RELATION 


OF THE 


AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 


FOR 


FOREIGN MISSIONS 


TO 


SLAYERY. 

1 


By CHARLES K. WHIPPLE. 

1 


BOSTON: 


1 PUBLISHED BY R. F. WALLCUT, 


No. 221 WASHINGTON STREET. i 


1861. 



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RELATION 



AIEEICAN BOAED OF COMIISSIONEES 



rOEEIGN MISSIONS 



SLAYERY 



By CHAELES K. WHIPPLE. 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY R. F. WALLCUT, 
No. 221 WASHINGTON STREET. 

1861. 



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EELATION 



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AMERICAN BOARD" TO SLAVERY, 



At the Annual Meeting of the American Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreign Missions in October, 1860, it was 
declared by the Prudential Committee that the Cherokee 
nation was " a Christian people." 

When the Board commenced its missionary labors among 
the Cherokees in 1817, they were a pagan nation, and also a 
slaveholding nation. 

The Prudential Committee (the managing power of the 
Board) now declares these Indians to be changed from pagans 
to Christians. But their habit of slaveholding remains 
unchanged. 

The missionaries of the Board strongly opposed some of 
the vices which the Cherokees had been accustomed to prac- 
tise, and constantly bore their testimony against these vices, 
both by preaching against them, and by refusing church- 
membership to those who continued to practise them. They 
chose, however, not to preach against slaveholding, and they 
openly declared slaveholders to be Christians, admitting them 
to their churches indiscriminately with others. 

The Prudential Committee now not only declare this 
slaveholding nation to be " a Christian people," but they de- 
clare the discontinuance of the missionary work among them 
(first made known to the public at the meeting above men- 
tioned) to have been decided on because they were Christian- 
ized ; because the work undertaken by the missionaries was 
satisfactorily accomplished, in regard to the Cherokees ; and 



4 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

because the duty of the Board was to send its laborers to 
people who were not Christian. 

The Prudential Committee further declare — tacitly recog- 
nizing the fact that slaveholding existed, unrebuked, among 
their Cherokee church-members — that the separation in ques- 
tion was not made on account of slavery. 

They also expressly declare — tacitly recognizing the fact 
that many complaints had been made in regard to the com- 
plicity of the missionaries with slavery — that the preaching 
of those missionaries has been faithful, and their course of 
policy satisfactory. 

Here is the testimony of the Prudential Committee upon 
these three points, from their Annual Report for 1860 : — 

CERTIFICATE OF CHRISTIANITY FOR THE SLAVEHOLDING CHER- 
OKEE NATION. 

" 1. The CheroJcees are a Christian people ." — Ann. Rep., 1860, p. 138. 
****** 

" The mission is not abandoned ; but our appropriate work is done. 
The Cherokee people have been Christianized, through the divine 
favor, and what remains for building up and sustaining the institu- 
tions of the Gospel — which is every where a work never brought 
to a close — must be left to others; for the reason that our appro- 
priate work is no longer there." — Ibid, p. 145. 

CERTIFICATE OF CHRISTIANITY FOR THE CHEROKEE CHURCHES 
CONTAINING SLAVEHOLDERS. 

" Our brethren declare, that no members have been received into 
either of our own churches, without first giving what they deemed 
to be credible evidence of repentance and faith in Christ. In this, 
there has been exact conformity to the principle recognized by the 
Board ; — ' That credible evidence of repentance and faith in Christ, 
in the judgment of the missionaries and the churches they gather, 
entitles professed converts from among the heathen to the ordinances 
of baptism and the Lord's supper; those ordinances being evidently 
designed by Christ to be means of grace for such.' Mr. Ranney 
regards the members of his OAvn church, at Lee's Creek, as fur- 
nishing the same evidence of faith and repentance as did the mem- 
bers of a church in Vermont, where he labored as a minister of the 
Gospel before going among the Cherokees." — lb., p. 140. 

THE DISCONTINUANCE NOT ON ACCOUNT OF SLAVERY. 

" The Committee have arrived at the conclusion, that it is time 
for the Board to discontinue its expenditures among the Cherokees. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. O 

To prevent all misapprehension, it should be stated at the outset ; — 
First, that this is not OAving to the relations of our work among these 
Indians to the system of slavery." — lb., p. 137. 

CERTIFICATE OP CHRISTIAN FIDELITY FOR THE PRO-SLAVERY 

MISSIONARIES. 

"5. To prevent the possibility of misapprehension, it is farther 
resolved, that the mission is not discontinued because of any unfaith- 
fulness on the part of our brethren in that mission ; they having 
been exemplary, so flir as is known to the Committee, in the dis- 
charge of all their missionary duties." — lb., p. 142. 

Mr. James Gr. Birney, a church-member in Kentucky, hav- 
ing been converted by the labors of the Abolitionists, wrote a 
tract, in 1842, declaring and proving that the American Church 
is the Grreat Bulwark of American Slavery. This statement 
is even more emphatically true of the Church now, than it 
was then. And the American Board of Commissioners for 
Foreign Missions is one of the most popular and influential 
representatives of that Church. This last unequivocal and 
emphatic uplifting of the voice of the Board in behalf of 
slavery will help many Christians to realize how far different 
is its teaching from the Grospel of Christ. He declared that 
the Lord had sent him "to preach deliverance to the cap- 
tives." The Board has not only refused to follow, in this 
particular, him whom it pretends to call " Lord," but while 
deserting and betraying the o.ppressed, it has welcomed the 
oppressor as " a brother in Christ." And since now, while 
dismissing churches of slaveholders from its guardianship, it 
parades before this nation — now agitated as never before by 
a sense of the guilt and danger involved in slaveholding — 
its priestly assurance that slaveholding is not sin, it seems a 
suitable time to trace back the connection of this Board with 
slavery, and to show how, like the American Church, it has 
silently acquiesced in that wickedness while silence was possi- 
ble, has spoken of it, when compelled to speak, in a manner 
often disingenuous and sometimes deceitful, and, when action 
could no longer be avoided, has acted in support of slavery, 
veiling its guilt by a profusion of pious words. 

The first open action of the Board in regard to slavery — 
the first direct reference, in their Annual Reports, to their 
own complicity with it — is found in the Report for 1840, 



6 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

(pp. 63, 64,) under the head, " On raising funds from the 

HOLDERS OF SLAVES." 

It appears, however, from facts derived from other sources, 
that the Prudential Committee had previously, and repeatedly, 
been called to act upon this subject; that they had discounte- 
nanced the mention of it by missionaries and others ; and that 
they concealed the fact that remonstrances against slavery 
had been made, both from the Board, at its Annual Meetings, 
and from the churches, who read their Annual Kcports. We 
know not how many such remonstrances were made, and sup- 
pressed by the Prudential Committee, nor do we know when 
they began to be made. That one was made as early as 1837 
is shown by the following letters, and the action of the Board 
in regard to certain printed documents, sent to this country 
from the Sandwich Islands mission. 

In the year 1837, several of the missionaries of the Board 
in the Sandwich Islands became deeply impressed with a sense 
of the guilt of slavery, the danger incurred by their native 
country in supporting such a wicked system, and the respon- 
sibility of the church for its removal. I have now before me 
copies of letters from three of those persons, one from Rev. 
Jonathan S. Green, dated at Honolulu, Oahu, in May, one 
from Rev. Peter Gulick, from the same station, in June, and 
the third from Rev. H. R. Hitchcock, dated at Kaluaaha in 
November. They all breathe the same spirit; but to show 
the strength of their sentiments and the vigor of their lan- 
guage, I subjoin extracts from the last two : — 

"Honolulu, June, 1837. 
"Dear Brother "Wright, — I can hardly tell M-hether personal 
regard, or the warm sympathy I feel for you as one engaged, heart 
and soul, in the great, the blessed, the arduous cause of abolition, 
has the greater influence in prompting me to address you. Ever 
since I seriously considered the subject, my sympathies have been 
with the Abolitionists, and those for whom the}' labor. It is, how- 
ever, but recently I have become thoroughly convinced that the sys- 
tem of slavery ought to be immediately abolished. And yet this point 
seems now so clear and plain, that I almost wonder how any real 
Christian could hesitate a moment in coming to a right conclusion. 
Perhaps one of the greatest causes of delusion in this and similar 
eases is, our proneness to look at them in what we call the liglit of 
expediency. But what right have men, who have the Bible, to follow 
any other light than of Revelation ? I believe, assuredly, that aboli- 
tion is the cause of God, and must, therefore, triumph. The Lord 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 7 

hasten it in his time ! I believe, too, that the reproach, abuse and 
violence which the friends of the cause (and yourself among 
others) are called to endure, in publishing the truth, -will tend pow- 
erfully to accelerate the accomplishment of your desires. 

"You will perceive by the preceding printed resolutions, that 
we, as a mission, do not forget our brethren who are in bonds. In- 
deed, the situation of the mass of this nation keeps the subject of 
slavery almost constantly before our eyes, and in our minds. The 
condition of the laboring class (which is almost the whole nation) 
is that of slavery, in its mildest form, however. No corporeal pun- 
ishments are resorted to, to extort labor, nor are families broken up, 
and the marriage relation disregarded, as in the slave States of my 
beloved, tliough guilty country. Xor do the chiefs, who are the 
o)ili/ masters, desire to exclude mental cultivation ; but rather endeavor 
to promote its general diffusion ; still, with these and other pallia- 
tions, the system tends strongly to idleness, (for who would love to 
work without recompense ?) and is pregnant with evils ruinous to 
all classes. From the bottom of my heart, therefore, I say, ' God 
speed the Abolitionists, till every yoke of oppression is broken 
throughout the whole earth.' Oppression has been greatly mitigated 
here by the introduction of the Gospel ; but much remains still to be 
done. 

P. GULICK." 

" KL\LUAAHA, Nov. 18, 1837. 
" To THE Editor of the Emancipator : 

"Dear Sir, — An accidental perusal of some of the numbers of 
your paper induces me, though a stranger, to write you. I write 
on a sheet containing a sort of circular to Christians, in the form of 
resolutions ; not doubting that while you are engaged in the truly 
philanthropic and Christian work of pleading for the oppressed in 
the land of freedom, you have a deep interest also in the efibrts of 
those who are laboring to break the bonds of pagan darkness. 

" Though our fields of labor are at a great distance from each 
other, and are different in some respects, yet I feel that our object is 
the same, — that of breaking every bond, of letting the captives go 
fi'ee. Be assured, sir, that in the prosecution of this object, you 
have my pra^'ers and best wishes for your success. No intelligence 
from my native land interests me more than that which announces 
the progress of the cause of the slave. 

"I write because it is a privilege for me (as I think it should be 
for every Christian) to take an open and decided stand in favor of 
those who are laboring to crush slavery. Especially is this a privi- 
lege at a time when morbid prudence or time-serving policy is set- 
ting afloat the sentiment that it is a subject with which the mission- 
ary should not intermeddle. I must confess, that if the immediate 
abolition of slavery is a subject in which Christians of every name, 
circumstance or occupation, whether public or private, individual or 
corporate, may not and should not take an open, undisguised and 
active part, then there is no subject in all the wide field of benevo- 



8 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

lent action in wliicli they should do so. Of all the abominations 
that have cursed the earth, where is there one more flagrant than 
that of enslaving and crushing to dust our fellow-men ? Of all the 
sins which Christians are called upon to oppose at the present day, 
where is there a more heinous one than the one your society are 
laboring to destroy ? The mere fact that insisting upon the imme- 
diate abolition of slavery, and that describing in Bible language the 
odiousness of traffic in human flesh, will disobhge a class of inter- 
ested persons, however great, is no proof that either sound pru- 
dence or the religion of Christ requires one to forbear. A neutral 
position in reference to the immediate destruction of slavery can be 
justified by the spirit of the Gospel no more than the same position 
can be in reference to the destruction of intemperance, perjury, or 
highway robbery. And there can be little doubt, that were those 
sins as intimately interwoven with the worldly interests and profits 
of so large a portion of the country as is the existence of slavery, the 
same policy which now keeps so many aloof from those who are 
laboring to put down the latter, would do the same in reference 
to those who should strive to put down the former. Were the sin 
of holding slaves confined to a few, and those few of little or no 
wealth or influence, the neutrality which now exists in reference to 
its immediate abolition would probabl}^ be unknown. How discon- 
sonant to the benevolent, but uncompromising spirit of the Bible ! 
' Open thy mouth for the dumb, in the cause of all such as are appointed 
to destruction. Open thj mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of 
the poor and needy,' is a divinely inspired injunction, which no human 
policy whatever can justify us in evading. 

" I am happy to inform you of what I hope you may be officially 
informed hereafter: that this mission, (so far as I know,) TO A 
MAN, ARE IN FAVOR OF TPIE IMMEDIATE EMANCI- 
PATION OF THE SLAVE, and that we of course, as a body, 
are deeply interested in the success of the object to which your 
paper is devoted. As we do not get the paper, or, indeed, any other 
exclusively devoted to the interests of the anti-slavery society, you 
would do me a favor, and perhaps promote the interests of the cause, 
by sending us a file. I think good use will be made of it. 

" As to the above resolutions, suffice it to say, that however they 
may fail to recommend themselves to the Christian public, the}^ are 
the unanimous sentiments of this body on the subjects to which they 
refer. They were not adopted rashly, or under the impulse of con- 
vivial excitement, but after a prayerful and serious discussion.. 
They are sentiments, in the promulgation of which we all feel the 
deepest interest. Should this strike you, sir, as just, you will do the 
cause of missions a favor by giving them a place in the Emancipator. 

" Let the importance of the cause, dear sir, excuse the obtrusion 
of this letter upon you, and believe me, your cordial and respectful 
friend and fellow-laborer, 

H. R. HITCHCOCK." 

These, and others of the Sandwich Islands missionaries, 
feeling at once the atrocious character of slavery itself, and 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY, 



9 



its detrimental influence upon their missionary work, not only 
wrote letters like the above to their other friends, but made 
similar appeals to their employers, the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, sending them, among 
other things, two anti-slavery documents printed on the mis- 
sion press, one a tract, and the other a series of resolutions, 
printed on a letter sheet, referred to in the two preceding let- 
ters, both making a very earnest and affecting appeal to 
American Christians to apply themselves at once to the work 
of overthrowing American slavery. 

How were this appeal and these documents received by the 
Board? 

They referred the whole matter to a committee, consisting 
of Drs. Fay and Skinner, Rev. Henry Dwight, and John 
Tappan and Zechariah Lewis, Esqs., who reported the fol- 
lowing resolution, which was adopted in September, 1837, 
and, after discussion, reaffirmed, September, 1839, and which 
still remains in force : — 

"In general, the sole object of the printing establishments con- 
nected with the missions of the Board shall 1)e to exert a direct in- 
fluence upon the surrounding native population, and no mission or 
member of a mission may print any letter, tract or ap- 
peal, at these establishments, at the expense of the 
Board, with a view to its being sent to individuals, or 

COMMUNITIES, IN THE UnITED StATES." 

This prohibition of the diffusion of such humane and 
Christian sentiments as, being contained in the preceding 
letters, we must suppose were repeated in the tract and the 
printed sheet of resolutions, is discourteous to the missiona- 
ries, and shows a despotic style of administration in the Pru- 
dential Committee; but the clause, "at the expense of the 
Board," is a cruel addition of insult to injury, if we remem- 
ber that the persons thus rebuked had given themselves, with 
their small worldly possessions, to the Board, and thus had 
no means of uttering the honest convictions of their hearts to 
friends at a distance, except by using the paper and ink pur- 
chased by the Board with the funds entrusted to them by 
Cliristians for the diffusion of Christian light and knowledge. 
If the missionaries found a fire opened in their rear by the 
shameless extension of heathenism at home, under the eye, 
and with the sanction of the Board, why should they not use 
1* 



10 THE AMEllICAN BOARD 

the means furnished them by the Christian public to remon- 
strate against it? 

This rule may be seen on page 27 of the Annual Report 
for 1837. No reason whatever for passing it appears in 
that report. I know of no reason for passing it, except the 
wish to prevent the missionaries from remonstrating with the 
churches against slavery. 

It is a significant fact that, two years before this prohibi- 
tion of freedom of the press to the missionaries of the Sand- 
wich Islands, the Board gave the following explicit testimony 
in their favor : — 

" Resolved, That this Board has entire confidence in the Christian 
character, prudence and fidelity of their mission in the Sandwich 
Islands — the unfomided reports occasionally circulated notwithstand- 
ing; and that the success which has attended this mission, in the 
conversion of the heathen, and the great good done to seamen from 
Christian lands, calls for gratitude to God, and commends this mis- 
sion to the hearts and the special prayers of all the friends of 
Christ." — Ann. Kep. of 1835, p. 23. 

The following testimony, on page 24 of the same Report, 
is also highly significant, showing that, until the subject of 
slavery was brought before them, the Board chose to counte- 
nance and commend reformatory activities, at home as well 
as abroad: — 

'' Resolved, That this Board rejoice and give praise to Almighty 
God for that increase of Christian activity which is seen in the 
various institutions established during the last forty years for the 
prevention of sin in all its forms, and for removing from our guilty 
and suffering race the evils which sin occasions ; that they especially 
rejoice in the progress of the temperance reform, and of the princi- 
ples of peace among the nations of Christendom ; and that their 
earnest prayer is, that all these associations may continue to labor 
with wisdom and energy, and that others may be organized to coop- 
erate with them, imtil the institutions of Christian benevolence shall 
present a front as extended as the ravages of sin ; and, favored 
with guidance and power from on high, shall press forward in their 
joint labors to chase wickedness and misery from the earth." 

That the Board then chose also not only to acknowledge, 
but to cooperate with, reformatory institutions, appears from 
this statement, page 33 of the same Report: — 

" Among the donations from similar sources should be acknowl- 
edged a valuable grant from the American Temperance Society, 



IN EBLATION TO SLAVERY. 11 

embracing about eleven hundred copies of its annual reports. These 
have been sent to the several stations occupied by the missionaries 
of the Board, and circulated witli manifest good results, among the 
settlers and travellers on the frontiers of our own country, and 
among seamen and residents speaking the English language in for- 
eign parts." 

I have said that the vote of the Board in 1837 (forbidding 
the printing, on the mission presses, of any remonstrance 
against slavery from the missionaries to their brethren at 
home) was rejiflfirmed in 1889. The manner and circum- 
stances of this reaffirmation are significant and instructive. 
The Prudential Committee chose again to veil this important 
action in language so carefully guarded that no allusion to 
slavery appears to the careless reader, either in the text or in 
the Index. Indeed, without a knowledge, from some other 
source, of that concerted and unanimous action of the Sand- 
wich Islands missionaries which the votes in question were to 
nullify, the reader of these Keports of the Prudential Com- 
mittee for 1887 and 1889 would not discover that either of 
them made the slightest reference to slavery. The passage 
in the Report for 1889, in which the prohibition of anti- 
slavery printing is deceptively placed under the head " Re- 
turn OF Missionaries," is as follows (the italics are those of 
the Report): — 

"Return of Missionaries. Memorials from the Mahratta 
mission, and from that to the Sandwich Islands, relating to the re- 
turn of missionaries, were read and referred to Rev. Drs. Day, Ed- 
wards, and Pond, Hon. Charles Marsh, and Rev. Messrs. Eli Smith 
and Willard Child. This committee subsequently made the follow- 
ing Report : — 

" ' The committee to whom was referred memorials from the Mahratta 
mission, and from the mission at the Sandwich Islands, have attended to 
the very important subjects submitted to them, and respectfully report: 

" ' That they see no sufficient cause for suspending or altering a rule 
adopted by this Board two years ago, in words following, viz. : " No mis- 
sion or member of a mission may jjrint any letter, tract, or appeal at these 
establishments" [the mission printing establishments abroad] "at the ex- 
pense of the Board, with a view to its being sent to individuals in tho 
United States." Our brethren abroad have various modes of communicat- 
ing with friends and the community at home; but tho Prudential Com- 
mittee, obviously, are the proper judges of what ought to be printed, at 
the expense of the Board, with a view to general circulation in tho United 
States. 

" ' In reference to tho other and principal matter complained of in these 
memorials, viz., the return of missionaries, the following statements and 
recommendations are submitted.' " — p. 38. 



12 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

These last lines (which are followed by a much more ex- 
tended report really relating to the " return of missionaries ") 
show that some "other" subject was contemplated in the 
" Memorials from the Mahratta mission, and from that to the 
Sandwich Islands." These Memorials are not given in the 
Report. Wishing to ascertain how strongly and at what 
length they had urged the subject of slavery upon the notice 
of the Prudential Committee, I sent the following note, 
through the post-office, to the senior Secretary : — 

Boston, Dec. 31st, 1860. 
Eev. Dr. Rufus Anderson : 

Dear Sir, — Will you have the kindness to give me a copy (or 
allow me to make a copy) of the '^ Memorials from the Mahratta Mis- 
sion, and from that to the Sandwich Islands," respecting which a report 
was made on the first half of page 38 of the Prudential Committee's 
Annual Report for 1839 ? 

Respectfully, CHARLES K. WHIPPLE. 

To this note I have received no answer whatever. 

In the Appendix to this Annual Report of 1839, we find — 
" Instructions given by the Prudential Committee [Oct. 6th, 
1839,] to the Rev. Sheldon Dibble, about returning to the 
Sandwich Islands Mission." 

Mr. Dibble was one of that body of Sandwich Islands 
missionaries of whom Rev. Mr. Hitchcock asserted a unani- 
mous desire for the immediate emancipation of the American 
slaves, and a deep interest in the abolition movement. (See 
ante, p. 8.) Of course, in his year's visit to this country, he 
had seen the utter indifference of the majority of American 
churches to this subject, and might be expected to speak of 
the need of further appeals to them by the missionaries. The 
Prudential Committee provide against this danger by saying 
to Mr. Dibble (p. 171) — 

" Bring not up an evil report of the churches of your native land, 
in your communications with your brethren." 

It must be remembered that this direction was given just 
after they had a second time voted to smother the testimony 
of those brethren against slavery, and against the complicity 
of the churches with it. 

It may be worth while to notice, in contrast with this sup- 
pression of the testimony of the Sandwich Islands missiona- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 13 

ries against American slavery, the fact that the Prudential 
Committee have repeatedly aided the home circulation of 
documents written by their missionaries, documents indirectly 
as well as directly connected with the missionary work. 
Besides their approving notice, heretofore mentioned, of " a 
circular letter, printed at the mission-press " in the Sandwich 
Islands in 1826, and announcing certain facts "to the 
world" — they published, (p. 52 of the Annual Report for 
1852,) a letter written by Mr. Wilson and four other mission- 
aries of the Gaboon station, to Commodore Penand, of the 
French African squadron, then on that coast, containing this 
paragraph : — 

" We would also express our hearty sympathies in the success- 
ful eflforts you have put forth to prevent the natives of this region 
of country from participating further in the foreign slave trade ; 
and we hope they will not be suspended until this wicked practice 
is entirely suppressed." 

Moreover, in their Annual Report for 1818 (pp. 30-2) is 
given an abstract of a pamphlet entitled " The Conversion of 
the World " — "written by Messrs. Hall and Newell at Bom- 
bay, and sent home in manuscript." The Report says — 
"Though this pamphlet has been widely diffused, and will be 
diffused still more widely, it may be useful to give an abstract 
of its contents." 

So also, in the Annual Report for 1845, (p. 75,) we find 
mentioned the printing, by the Prudential Committee, of 
3,000 copies of a statement and appeal from the mission in 
Borneo. 

It thus appears that the Prudential Committee's suppres- 
sion of the appeal of the Sandwich Islands missionaries in 
1837, and their adoption of a rule for choking oft' future 
attempts at appeal on that subject, and their framing of that 
rule in language so general as to give no idea to the ordinary 
reader of the particular object of the prohibition, were parts 
of a policy which has uniformly been pursued by this body, 
the avoidance of practical discountenance to that system of 
slaveholding in the United States in which their contributors 
were concerned. 

It will be perceived by the letters of Mr. Gulick and Mr. 
Hitchcock, (ante, pp. 6-8,) that even the mild form of slavery 
then prevailing in the Sandwich Islands was a serious hin- 



14 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

drance to their missionary labor, and that the publication in 
this country of their resolutions in opposition to American 
slavery would be (in their judgment) a benefit to the cause of 
missions. 

The very year after the Prudential Committee had smoth- 
ered this testimony, and suppressed these resolutions, and for- 
bidden the printing of any others, their report respecting the 
Sandwich Islands mission contained a division headed " Hin- 
drances TO THE Work." Slavery, however, was not men- 
tioned among these hindrances ! was not mentioned at all ! 
Romanism and want of funds were the only topics touched 
under this head. — See pp. 117, 118, of Ann. Rep. for 1838. 

The significance of this suppression of the testimony of 
missionaries in regard to the hindrances to their work among 
the heathen becomes very striking when contrasted with the 
following declarations previously made by the Prudential 
Committee : — 

^ "Resolved, That it is eminently desirable that the spiritual condi- 
tion and necessities of the world be ascertained and spread before 
the churches as soon as possible, and that a distinct presentation be 
made of all the means which ought to be employed to publish the 
Gospel to every creature." — p. 18, Ann. Rep. for 1833. 

In the " Conclusion " of this same Annual Report, among 
the " General Objects of the Board," occurs the following 
passage, p. 141: — 

"A joint and solemn responsibility does certainly rest upon the 
several missionary societies of Christendom to lose no time in mak- 
ing a full report to the churches of the condition of the heathen 
world, and of all that is necessary for its spiritual regeneration." 

That there has been (notwithstanding this general recogni- 
tion of the duty of free expression in regard to the obstacles 
to success in the missionary enterprise) a steady continuance, 
by the Prudential Committee, of the policy of discouraging 
any expression of opinion by the missionaries in regard to 
slavery in the United States, appears from two letters from 
missionaries of the Board, which aj)peared in The Independ- 
ent of August 13th, 1857. 

In that paper, the writers of these letters are editorially 
designated as " two of the most able, devoted and successful 
missionaries in the East," one " in Western Asia," and the 
other "in a neighboring field." 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 15 

The first of these letters, written from one missionary to 
the other, is dated May 5th, 1857. The second letter, from 
the second missionary, and enclosing the letter of the first to 
some one in this country, is dated June 1st, 1857. We are 
left in entire ignorance from what particular places, and from 
what persons, and to what persons, these letters were sent. 
Why is this reserve ? Is it because both letters express a 
very strong and heartfelt opposition to American slavery ? 

The Independent wished these strong expressions of anti- 
slavery feeling to be heard and heeded, and called attention 
to them in the following introductory paragraphs : — 

"the testimony or missionaries against AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

" The Christian sentiment of the world, in every form, is arrayed 
against the system of slavery which exists in the United States. 
But perhaps no testimony against that system is so strong and so 
impressive as that which comes from American missionaries, who 
from their distant fields of labor look back upon their native land. 
Their love for their country would incline them to look charitably 
upon her faults, while their relations to the Christian community dis- 
pose them always to speak with caution upon liome atlairs. They 
are removed from all party and sectional strife upon the subject of 
slavery, and therefore look upon that subject, not with the excited 
feelings of controversialists, but with the calmness of impartial ob- 
servers. As a class, missionaries live near to God, and some of them 
are eminent for holiness. They are accustomed to look upon every 
institution, measure, or event, in its bearing upon the kingdom of 
Christ, and thus their feelings become as sensitive to any thing 
atfecting that kingdom as the barometer to changes of the atmos- 
phere. The churches in this land, therefore, ought to give special 
heed to the views and feelings of missionaries on the subject of sla- 
very. They are not 'infidels,' 'radicals,' or 'fanatics.' 

" Formerly, our missionaries looked upon slavery as an evil which 
they had left far behind them, and with which they had no concern. 
Kow, however, since communication has been so freely opened with 
all parts of the world, they find the shame and scandal of American 
slavery a positive hindrance to their work. Converted heathen are 
amazed that slavery exists in this Christian land, and opposition to 
the Gospel among the unevangelized is strengthened by this mon- 
strous incongruity. The lamented Stoddard once said, ' We do not 
dare to let our converts know that slavery exists in America ; for how 
could we reconcile it with our professions as a Christian nation 1 ' " 

The language of the second of the letters referred to is so 
very peculiar and significant that I quote some of its first 
sentences : — 

"June 1st, 1857. 

"My Dear Brother, — The groanings of the missionary over 
his retrograding country ought perhaps sometimes to be heard. 



16 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

With this view, I send you the enclosed letter from Mr. to my- 
self, which you are at liberty to publish just as it is forwarded, if you 
think proper. Names need not be given; for the sentiment of the 
letter probably represents the feelings of most of our missionaries in 
these regions. It was of course not penned for the public eye ; but 
the spontaneous gushings of an aching heart, poured into the ear of 
a brother missionary, are at least as true an index of that heart as 
any more formal expression could be." 

Why is the strong protest against slavery (which is the 
prominent point in both the letters referred to) thus anony- 
mously written and published? Why does the missionary 
say that his complaints upon this subject ought perhaps some- 
times to be heard ? Why does he say, in giving permission 
to publish the letter of his anti-slavery associate, " Names 
need not be given " ? and why does he say, (as if it explained 
the propriety of withholding the names of persons and places,) 
"/or the sentiment of the letter probably represents the feel- 
ings of most of our missionaries in these regions "? In short, 
why must the anti-slavery sentiments of American missiona- 
ries in foreign lands be sent to this country stealthily, and 
published at second hand, with such precautions, instead of 
being sent directly to the Board, and published, with their 
other communications, in the Missionary Herald and the An- 
nual Heports? The answer to these questions will require a 
careful and extended examination of the past history of the 
Board in regard to slavery, to which I now proceed. 

In 1840, the Prudential Committee found it necessary to 
make open mention of the subject of slavery in their Annual 
Beport, to indicate this business, as others, by a heading in 
small capitals, and also to refer to it in the Index. Their 
action is recorded as follows, pp. 63, 64: — 

"on raising funds from the holders of slaves. 

" A memorial from sundry Congregational and Presbyterian minis- 
ters in the State of New York, on the subject of raising funds for 
missionary objects from those who hold slaves, and remonsti^ating 
against the agents of the Board being sent for that purpose into the 
States where slaves' are held, was laid before the Board by the Re- 
cording Secretary, and referred to a committee consisting of Rev. 
Drs. Hawes, and Tliomas DeWitt, Hon. Charles Marsh, Walter 
Hubbell, Esq., and Rev. Messrs. Greene, Hamner and Meigs. This 
committee subsequently made the report given below, which was 
accepted and approved. 

" ' The Committee to whom was referred the memorial of sundry Congre- 
gational and Presbyterian ministers in the State of New York, respectfully 
ask leave to report 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 17 

" ' Your Committee have no reason to doubt that the memorialists are 
sincerely desirous of promoting the missionary Avork, and think that their 
opinions and feelings should be treated with great respect and kindness. 
That the Lord will not accept the fruits of robbery for sacrifice, we are 
assured ; nor do your Committee suppose that any gift obtained by means 
known to the donor to be unrighteous, and in the use of which he still 
perseveres, will be acceptable to God. Still, they think that much caution 
should be exercised in judging concerning the character and motives of 
men who profess to be engaged in the service of Christ, and whose general 
character and conduct correspond with the profession, 

" ' But without deciding in regard to the entire correctness of the prin- 
ciples wliich are believed to constitute the basis of the reasonings of the 
memorialists, your Committee are convinced, from a careful consideration 
of the matter, that the attempt to apply these principles, as proposed in 
the memorial, would be attended with practical difficulties so numerous 
and great as to render it inexpedient for the Board to take any order on 
the subject.' " 

The Prudential Committee do not tell us who, and how 
many, are the "sundry ministers," nor what reasons they 
allege. They seem to hope still to stave oiF the subject by 
treating it with slight regard. But in the following year, it 
was found advisable and prudential to treat other remon- 
strants more respectfully. 

In the Annual Report for 1841, pp. 58 to 61, appears the 
following Memorial and Keport of Committee : — 

"ME3IORIAL FROM MINISTERS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

" The following memorial from ministers in the State of New 
Hampshire was read to the Board by Mr. Greene : — 

ArcusT, 1841. 
To the American Board of Commissioners for Forei(/n 3Iissions : 

Beloved Brethren, — The undersigned, ministers in New Hampshire, 
and most of them honorary members of the Board, address you on a sub- 
ject in which they feel a deep interest, and which they regard as of the 
utmost importance to the cause of Missions. We address you as our fel- 
low-laborers, and the especial agents of the church in this cause. And we 
assure you that we have great confidence in you as such. But we think 
the circumstances in which you are now placed require a modification of 
the course you have hitherto pursued. We allude to what has appeared 
to us a studied silence on the subject of American slavery. We know that 
you have been goaded in unchristian methods, and have been censured for 
not carrying out plans that were neither wise nor good. But we think you 
may, and we frankly say you should, make known your views and feelinys on 
the subject, so that you shall be recognized by all as symjiathising with those 
Christians who deeply abhor that system nf abomination. 

And in addition to the consideration that it is right, we say also a regard 
to the pecuniary safety of the Board renders it expedient. There is a 
deep feeling of disapprobation in the community in relation to the studied 
silence above alluded to. Nor is it confined to those who have dealt in de- 



18 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

nunciation towai'ds all who did not conform to their precise method of op- 
posing slavery. The sober and considerate ministers and members of our 
churches, who have from the first been the firm and true friends of the 
Board, are distressed. They love the Board, and have loved it long. 
They regard it as foremost among the benevolent societies of the day. 
They have paid more for its support than for the support of any other so- 
ciety. And more than of any other, has its prosperity been the burden of 
their prayers. But we greatly fear that their contributions must ulti- 
mately, and that before long, be suspended, if the Board shall think it 
their duty to observe such a studied silence on this great subject of interest 
and responsibility to American Christians. 

Brethren, do not for a moment think that we are not your friends. "We 
say this in love — love to your cause, and love with assurance of confidence 
to you. We do think that American slavery is such, and brought in the 
providence of God so distinctly into the notice of American Christians, 
that no man or body of men can innocently maintain a doubtful position 
in relation to it. 

John M. Whitox, Antrim. S. "W. Clark, Greenlcmd. 

Samuel Lee, New Ipswich. David P. Smith, Greenfield. 

WiXTHROP FiFiELD, Epsoni. Jeremiah Blake, Wolf borough. 

EuFUS A. Putnam, Chichester. R. W. Fuller, Westmoreland. 

James R. Davenport, Francestown. James Tisdale, Dublin. 

Giles Lyman, Marlborough. Saaiuel Nichols, Barrington. 

Cyrus W. Wallace, Manchester. J. D. Crosby, Jaffrcy. 

Horace Wood, Dalton. David Sutherland, Bath. 

Jonathan Curtis, Pittsfield. 

" The foregoing paper was referred to the Rev. Dr. Woods, Chief 
Justice Williams, Rev. Dr. Hawes, Rev. David Magie, and Rev. J. G. 
Haraner, who subsequently reported as follows : — 

" 'The Committee to whom was referred the memorial of several minis- 
ters of the Gospel in the State of Xew Hampshire, beg leave to report. 

" ' In attending to the subject under consideration, your Committee no- 
tice, with heartfelt pleasure, the candid and Christian spirit manifested in 
the communication from the brethren in New Hampshire. We have 
entire confidence in their attachment to the cause of foreign missions, and 
in their disposition to do all in their power to send the blessed Gospel, 
with all its healing influences, to the ends of the earth. It will ever be 
our delight to act with such men as they are, in promoting the object of 
this Missionary Board. And it is our earnest wish that every thing should 
be removed out of the way, which would be likely, in any measure, to pre- 
vent the accomplishment of this object, or to hinder the cordial and unin- 
terrupted cooperation of its friends. 

'' ' This Board was incorporated for the express "purpose of propagating 
the Gospel in heathen lands, by supporting missionaries and diffusing a 
knowledge of the Scriptures." In the language of the laws, " the object 
of the Board is to propagate the Gospel among unevangelized nations." 
The Board and its missionaries have taken care to confine their efforts to 
this one object, — an object great and excellent enough to engage the labors 
of angels and men. It appears to your Committee to be a duty of the first 
importance, — a duty required by a conscientious regard to the sacred 
trust committed to us, to continue to pursue our one great object with undi- 
vided zeal, and to guard watchfully against turning aside from it, or mix- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 



19 



ing any other concern with our appropriate work, as a Board of Commis- 
sioners for Foreign Missions. There are indeed many other works of 
Christian benevolence to be accomplished. But the work of this Board is 
one, namely, to propagate the Gospel among iinevangclized nations. To this 
we are pledged. There are many forms of evil to be done away. But the 
evil which it is our object to do away is the evil of idolatry, ignorance and 
wretchedness among the heathen. And it is doubtless as true in regard 
to these various objects, as in regard to any others, that a division of labor 
is essential to the highest degree of success. As to the benevolent work in 
which we are engaged, we have the happiness to be of one mind ; and we 
have had the happiness, in all past time, of pursuing this work with 
remarkable unanimity. And it is exceedingly plain to us, tliat we are 
called by Divine Providence to adhere to the plan of operation which has, 
from the first, been adopted ; and that the way, and the only way for us 
to fulfil our sacred trust, and go forward harmoniously and prosperously 
in our benevolent enterprise, is, to direct all our proceedings as a Board, 
and all the labors of our missionaries, to the accomplishment of the one 
specific object of our organization ; and that turning aside to any thing 
else, how important soever in itself, would be a dereliction of duty on our 
part, and would disappoint and grieve the great body of Christians who 
patronize the foreign missions. 

" ' Considering the character of this Board as a Christian institution, 
and the momentous object which it is pledged to promote, we think it may 
fairly be presumed, that the funds contributed from time to time to our 
treasury are obtained in a proper manner, and given from proper motives. At 
least, the principle is not to be admitted, that the Board must examine 
into the motives which influence those who sustain its operations, or into 
the origin of the funds which are contributed in furtherance of its object. 
Such a principle would be highly invidious in its character, and altogether 
impracticable in operation. 

'"In regard to the particular object of the memorialists, that of obtain- 
ing a formal expression of the views and feelings of the Board respecting 
slavery, your Committee do not think that such a measure is called for, or 
that it would be right and expedient. It is indeed perfectly evident, that 
this Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions can sustain no relation to 
slavery, which implies approbation of the system, and as a Board can have 
no connection or sympathy with it. And on the other hand, it is equally 
evident that the Board cannot be expected to pass resolutions, or 
adopt measui-es against this system, any more than against other specific 
forms of evil existing in the community. For we are met at once with the 
question, why we should express and proclaim our opinion in regard to 
one particular evil, in distinction from others, which are equally obvious 
and prevalent. 

" ' We beg leave to say again, — we do entertain a high respect for those 
ministers of Christ who have addressed us on the siibject now under con- 
sideration. The spirit which pervades their communication cannot but 
excite within us feelings of love and esteem towards them. It is our ear- 
nest desire and hope that this Board may give them entire satisfaction, 
and enjoy their entire confidence. And we cannot doubt the continuance 
of their benevolent efforts and their fervent prayers in behalf of that pre- 
cious and glorious object, the conversion of the world, which they and we are 
united in seeking. And we will only add an affectionate request to those 
beloved brethren, and all our other fellow-laborers, that they would keep in 
mind the great and only object of this Missionary Board, together with the 



20 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

untold labors, the perplexing cares, the burdens, difficulties and anxieties 
which fall to the share of those who are called to perform the executive 
business of the Board, and to direct its vast concerns, at homo and 
abroad. Let them join with us in thanking the God of missions for the 
unexpected and wonderful manner in which he has interposed to prosper 
our labors. Lot them join with us also in endeavoring to avoid whatever 
would divide the counsels and hinder the success of those who arc seeking 
the enlargement of Christ's kingdom. And as the God of heaven and 
earth is on his way to have mercy on all nations, lot our hearts be cheered 
and animated with hope ; and let us abound more and more in our labors 
of love ; waiting in faith and patience and joy for the coming of our Lord. 
" ' In behalf of the Committee, 

LEONARD WOODS, Chairman: 

" After a brief debate, with some explanations, and parts of the 
report having been again read, the report was unanimoushj adopted." 

The italics in the above are those of the Annual Report. 
I wish now to call particular attention to one feature in the 
report of this Reverend and Honorable Committee, some of 
whom afterwards distinguished themselves as bitter and per- 
sistent opponents of all anti-slavery reform. 

The Prudential Committee had, for several years, main- 
tained a deceptive silence upon this subject. In 1841 began 
a course, which has been continued to the present time, of 
deceptive speech. 

In the last paragraph but one of this report of Dr. Woods, 
of Andover, after a verbal disclaimer of approbation of sla- 
very — a disclaimer certainly not worth much after the per- 
sistent suppression, by the Prudential Committee, of testimo- 
ny from the missionaries against slavery, as a hindrance to 
their missionary work — Dr. Woods says, p. 60 : — 

" On the other hand, it is equally evident, that the Board cannot 
be expected to pass resolutions, or adopt measures against this sys- 
tem, any more than against other specific forms of evil existing 
in the community. For we are met at once with the question, why 
we should express and proclaim our opinion in regard to one partic- 
ular evil, in distinction from others, which are equally obvious and 
prevalent ? " 

The report containing this statement was " unanimously 
adopted" by the Board (p. 61.) The statement implies (and 
uses the implication as a main argument against the remon- 
strants) that no censure " against other specific forms of evil" 
had been published by the Board. Let us look at the facts. 

In the Annual Report for 1840, only one year before, I 
find censure against the traffic in intoxicating liquors, (pp 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 21 

37, 167,) against the use of intoxicating liquors, (p. 180,) 
against the use of opium, (pp. 132 and 188, 130,) against 
caste — in Siam, not in Massachusetts or South Carolina — 
(p. 131,) and against the smoking of tobacco, (p. IGl.) 

In the Annual lleport for 1838, I find censure against the 
practice of marrying heathen wives, (pp. 01, 05,) against in- 
temperance, (pp. 70, 123,) and against the action of the 
United States government, in removing the Indians beyond 
the Mississippi,^(p. 13G.) 

In the Annual Report for 1836, (p. 86,) and in that for 
1835, (p. 02,) are complaints of the demoralization produced 
by gambling; and in the Annual lleport for 1830, (pp. 110, 
112,) are strong statements respecting the pernicious influence 
of theatres. 

Some of the censures against " specific forms of evil " 
above referred to were made hj the missionaries, and some 
by the Prudential Committee. And probably every Annual 
Report yet issued has contained some censure of this sort, 
from the pen of one or the other (or both) of these two par- 
ties, and formally " adopted " by the Board, against one or 
more forms of vice or evil. 

Even in the very Annual Report (for 1841) in which Dr. 
Woods presents (as an argument against any direct rebuke of 
slaveholding by the Board) the implication that they did 7Ujt 
rebuke " other specific forms of evil," I find a statement of 
church discipline inflicted for *' travelling on the Sabbath " 
and for "playing at cards," (p. 155,) a complaint of the im- 
proper food and the want of cleanliness of the Sandwich Is- 
landers, (pp. 168, 160,) a censure of the use of intoxicating 
liquors, (p. 186,) and on page 156, the following energetic 
language against the smoking of tobacco : — 

" In some villages, not one in a hundred had fallen under church 
censure, and in others, considerable numbers had indulged in some 
besetting sin. The direct occasion of the falling of nearly all who 
had wandered was smoking tobacco. The passion of the natives for 
this vile narcotic is exceedingly strong and almost universal; and 
when this intemperate appetite has been indvilged for a considerable 
length of time, it is about as difficult to eradicate it, as to reform the 
confirmed drunkard. I need not, however, enlarge on this topic, as 
you are already acquainted with the facts in the case. On visiting 
the offenders, some appeared truly penitent, others indifferent, and 
a third class, hard-hearted and determined in sin. However, God 
•wrought, and he is now separating the precious from the vile, and 



22 



THE AMERICAN BOARD 



giving US power to 'return and discern between the righteous and 
the wicked.' " 

The Annual Eeport containing these rebukes of '• other 
specific forms of evil " was already prepared and ready for 
printing when Dr. Woods read his report containing the ut- 
terly erroneous implication above mentioned. The Prudential 
Committee, who sat on the platform and heard it read, knew 
not only that that statement was at variance with one of their 
ordinary customs, but that this variance utterly vitiated Dr. 
Woods's argument. Nevertheless, they allowed it to be read, 
voted on, and " adopted," without correction, and they after- 



wards printed it as sound and true ! 

The unfair treatment of this Memorial in 1841 was made 
the subject of remonstrance in other Memorials presented in 
1842, which were again referred to a Committee of which 
Rev. Dr. Woods was chairman. The Prudential Committee 
avoid giving the language of these Memorials, and the names 
of the remonstrants. This only is clear, that there were 
" several memorials and other papers " in regard to slavery. 
The Report of Dr. Woods replies to the exposure of his for- 
mer misrepresentations by another misrepresentation, and tries 
to veil the meagreness and insufficiency of its defence by ex- 
panding into irrelevant pious talk, an example which was much 
followed in subsequent years. 

This Report, with the very brief prefatory statement of the 
Prudential Committee, is as follows — pp. 44-46 of Annual 
Reportfor 1842: — 

" Memorials on Slavery. Mr. Greene read several memorials 
and other papers on the subject of the connection of the American 
Board Avitli slavery. Tliese papers were referred to a committee, 
consisting of Eev. Dr. Woods, Chief Justice Williams, Kev. D. 
Brigham, Eev. Drs. Hawes and Parker, Rev. D. Greene, and Rev. 
Lyman Strong. The following Report was presented by that com- 
mittee : — 

" 'The committee to whom were submitted sundry memorials relating to 
slavery; also, an extract from the will of the late Philander Ware; also, a 
memorial respecting receiving donations from persons in debt, ask leave to 
report. 

" ' Respecting the bequest of Philander Ware, and donations from per- 
sons in debt, your committee would not recommend to the Board to take 
any action. 

" ' The case of the Rev. John Leigh ton Wilson, a missionary of the 
Board to West Africa. It is stated in a letter from Mr. Wilson, that six 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 



23 



years ago, and subsequently to his entering on the missionary work, he 
sustained the legal relation of owner to a number of slaves, who fell to him 
In consequence of a bequest made before his birth; that he had otfered to 
emancipate them, either in this country or in Liberia, and had done all 
which he deemed suitable to terminate a relation painful and burdensome 
to himself, while they had steadfastly refused; and that he was, at the 
time mentioned, desirous still to emancipate these slaves, if any mode 
could be pointed out, which should be just and kind to them. Whether 
Mr. Wilson has emancipated them, or what their situation has been during 
the last six years, or what it now is, your committee have no information. 
They understand, however, that the Secretaries of the Board have written 
to him, making inquiries on these points. With their present want of 
information, your committee deem it necessary to say nothing more than 
that Mr. Wilson appears to have intended to act conscientiously and hu- 
manely, relative to the slaves under his care. Still, if his relation to them 
is not already tei-minated, your committee think it very desirable that it 
should be with as little delay as circumstances will permit ; and they 
cannot but think that he wull ere long be able, with sucla counsel and aid 
as the Prudential Committee may give, to accomplish the object in a man- 
ner satisfactory to himself, and kind and beneficial to them. More infor- 
mation must be obtained before further action can properly be had. 

" ' Your committee have no knowledge that any other missionary under 
the patronage of the Board stands in a similar relation to slavery. 

" ' This Board, at their last annual meeting, in reply to a memorial 
from New Hampshire, endeavored very plainly to set forth the principles 
which have governed their proceedings, and the views they entertain re- 
specting the general object of these memorials ; and it was our hope that 
the course which was pursued would prove satisfactory to all concerned. 
And here your committee know not what better they can do than to advert 
very briefly to the leading points contained in the report then adopted. 

" 'It was stated that this Board was incorporated for the express "pur- 
pose of propagating the gospel in heathen lands, by supporting missiona- 
ries and diffusing a knowledge of the Sci-iptures ; " that the Board have 
confined their efforts to this one rjreat object ; and that a regard to our 
sacred trust requires us to pursue the object with undivided zeal, and to 
guard watchfully against turning aside from it or mixing any other con- 
cerns with it. We referred to other works of benevolence, but insisted that 
mr appropriate work is to propagate the gospel among the unevangelized. It 
was then, and still is, our deliberate conviction, that we are called by 
Divine Providence to adhere steadily to the plan of operation which has 
been adopted, and that the only way for us to prosper in our work is to 
direct all our proceedings, as a Board, and all the labors of our missiona- 
ries, to the one specified object of our oi'ganization. Wo think that our 
Lord and Master, and the Christian world now and in after ages, will ap- 
prove this our deliberate course of action, and that we could not be justified 
in departing from it. 

" ' In the report adopted last year, we moreover expressed our opinion, 
that, considering the character of this Board and the nature of its object, 
it may fairly be presumed that the funds contributed to our treasury are 
obtained in a proper manner and given from proper motives, and that it is 
at least manifest that we cannot examine into the motives of those who 
sustain our operations, or into the origin of the funds which are contribu- 
ted in furtherance of our object. We think no man, who well considers 
the subject, can judge differently from us on this point. As to the methods 
which the Prudential Committee are pursuing to secure funds, we know 
nothing which any one could think exceptionable. 



24 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

" 'From a hearty desire to satisfy the feelings of the ministers of the 
Gospel who sent us the memorial from New Hampshire, we also said, Avith 
perfect frankness, "that the Board nf Cominissioners for Foreign Missions can 
sustain no relation to slavery which implies approbation of the system, and as a 
Board, can have no connection or sympathy with it," plainly intimating, 
also, that we consider it as one of the obvious evils which exist in the com- 
munity, but the removal of which, though we regard it as an object of 
fervent desire and prayer, does not fall within our province as a missionary 
Board. These are our settled principles. 

" ' It is alleged by the memorialists that the Board has departed from 
these principles, and has expressed opinions relative to other prevailing 
evils. Respecting intemperance, licentiousness, Indian oppression, and 
some other hindrances to the progress of Christianity, as they prevailed in 
the countries where the missions of the Board are established, and power- 
fully counteracted the labors of the missionaries, and in some instances 
subjected them to great peril, the Board has stated the facts as they 
occurred, and in various forms, more or less explicit, has uttered the lan- 
guage of condemnation. These evils, existing in the countries where the 
missions are operating, and standing directly in the way of the Board's 
accomplishing its object, were, of course, legitimate and proper subjects 
for its animadversion. If it has at any time gone further than this, and 
expressed opinions relative to immoralities or evils of any kind, prevailing 
in this country, and not directly counteracting the labors of the missiona- 
ries, your committee regard such action as a departure from the great 
principles on which the Board was organized, and by which they think its 
proceedings should always be governed. 

" 'And now, what more shall we say? Should we undertake to do jus- 
tice to our own views on all the particular subjects hinted at in these 
memorials, it would occupy more time than can be afforded on this occa- 
sion, and would naturally lead on to discussions in which this Board cannot 
engage, and which must be left to those who may write and speak on their 
own individual responsibility. 

" ' It should bo kept in mind, that the work of this Board has not been 
done in a corner. Its proceedings are open to the scrutiny of the public. 
Any one who will examine the matter will have no need to inquire of us 
what are our principles and our modes of action. They are written in our 
various reports and other printed documents. They are exhibited in noon- 
day light in the extensive fields we occupy, and in the success with which 
the God of missions has mercifully crowned our feeble efforts. 

" 'The difficulties which we have found it nect\sary to encounter have 
been innumerable, and our hearts have many a time been ready to yield to 
discouragement. Out of the depths we have often cried unto the Lord ; 
and he hath heard our voice, and hath called forth songs of thanksgiving 
and praise. 

" ' And now, feeling ourselves bound for ever to this sacred and moment- 
ous cause, and being resolved, in the best use of the powers which God has 
given us, and with the cooperation of his people and the help of his grace, 
to go straight forward in our work, we affectionately invite all who love 
the cause of missions, and who can conscientiously assist us with their 
prayers and their charities, to join with us in our undertaking, and to 
share with us in our labors, our trials and our pleasures. But if any are 
so dissatisfied with our principles or our proceedings, that they deem it 
their duty to promote the spread of the Gospel through some other chan- 
nel, we shall indeed be sorry to be deprived of the help they might afford 
us ; but we do not wish to curtail their liberty." ' 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 25 

In this Report, Dr. Woods repeats his statement of the 
previous year, that " the Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions can sustain no relation to slavery which implies ap- 
probation of the system." This disclaimer is not only worth- 
less and empty, an offering of barren words when deeds were 
needed, but it tries to turn the reader's attention from the 
real point at issue. Nobody had charged the Board with 
approving slavery ! The charge was that they had pursued 
such a course of policy, partly by action and partly by silence 
and inaction, as to give countenance and support to that 
wickedness ! 

But it is the paragraph following this, the one commenc- 
ing, "It is alleged," &c., (p. 24,) that contains the chief spec- 
imen of dishonest evasion and misrepresentation in this 
Report. After referring to the numerous instances presented 
by the remonstrants in which the Board had condemned 
" other specific evils," (thus at once disproving the statement 
and annihilating the argument which Dr. Woods had pre- 
sented in 1841,) the Report takes new ground, as follows : — 

" These evils, existing in the countries where the missions are 
operating, and standing directly in the way of the Board's accom- 
plishing its object, were of course legitimate and proper subjects for 
its animadversion. If it has at any time gone further than this, and 
expressed opinions relative to immoralities or evils of any kind, 
prevailing in this country, and not directly counteracting the labors 
of the missionaries, your Committee regard such action as a depar- 
ture from the great principles on which the Board was organized, 
and by which they think its proceedings should always be governed." 

Both sentences in this paragraph show the guilt of the 
Board, if they are examined in connection loith its action, 
though, without such examination, the careless and confiding 
reader might take them to substantiate Dr. Woods's argu- 
ment. 

If those evils which exist in the countries where the mis- 
sions are operating, and which stand directly in the way of 
the Board's accomplishing its object, are " of course legiti- 
mate and proper subjests for its animadversion," then the 
Board are verily guilty in not having spoken of slavery in 
the Sandwica Islands as an obstacle to the Christianization of 
that people, and in having suppressed and concealed the testi- 
mony of their missionaries there to that effect. If they will 
2 



26 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

bring out from their archives the letter-sheet of resolutions 
printed on the Sandwich Islands mission press, in 1837,* (im- 
mediately after which they voted that the mission presses 
should no longer! be used to print matter for distribution in 
the United States,) I doubt not it will be found to repeat the 
statement made in Mr. Gulick's letter (ante, p. 6,) that the 
situation of the mass of the Sandwich Islands people keeps 
the subject of slavery almost constantly before the eyes of the 
missionaries, and that the condition of the laboring class there 
is that of slavery, though in a milder form than the slavery 
of our Southern States. Since the missionaries wrote this 
statement to the editor of an anti-slavery newspaper at that 
time, no doubt they also wrote it to the Board, hoping that 
it might receive the much-needed circulation in their Annual" 
Report. But the Prudential Committee not only suppressed 
the letter-sheet of anti-slavery resolutions, and such further 
remonstrance upon that subject as the letters and journals of 
individual missionaries contained, but avoided all spontaneous 
mention of slavery as a hindrance, in that and the following 
years, even when, in 1838, they made an express enumeration 
of " Hindrances to the Work " — p. 117. 

Thus the very statement made by Dr. Woods in defence of 
the Board clearly proves the Board to have been in the wrong. 

But, in the second of the two sentences above quoted from 
this Report, it is implied that the slavery of this country, 
however appropriately regarded as an evil or an immorality, 
is not one " directly counteracting the labors of the mission- 
aries." Let us look a moment at this point. 

The following extracts, taken from a subsequent report of 
a Committee of which Dr. Woods was again chairman, (in 
18-15,) prove these three things : 

_*In August, 1857, I requested of the senior Secretary permission to see 
this document, but my request was not granted. 

t Before the Sandwich Islands mission press was used to oppose slavery, on 
page 95 of the Annual Report for 1827, is an account of " a circular letter, 
printed at the mission press, dated Oct. 3d, 182G, and signed by eight mis- 
sionaries," representing all the stations of that same mission, announcing 
"to the world" what efforts had been made there against drunkenness, 
gambling, and other vices, as well as the success of the technical preaching 
of the Gospel. The prohibition above quoted seems to have been designed 
solely to stop the mention of slavery, and the annoyance which this would 
cause to the slaveholding corporate and honorary members of the Board. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 27 

1st. That slavery was at the very time in question (1842) 
existing in two mission stations of the Board within the ter- 
ritory of the United States, namely, in the Cherokee and 
Choctaw nations, as well as in " all the adjacent white com- 
munities." 

2d. That the missionaries at these stations not only counte- 
nanced slaveholdhig, but authenticated and honored it by ad- 
mitting slaveholders to their churches as Christians, indiscrim- 
inately with others. 

3d. That, when they were compelled by importunate and 
repeated remonstrances to speak on the subject, both the 
Committee and the Board (which " unanimously adopted " 
their Keport, see p. 63 of Ann. Bep. for 1845) admitted 
" the wrongfulness and evil tendencies of slaveholding," even 
while determining to continue their allowance of it. Here 
are the extracts : — 

"Nep^ro slaves appear to have been introduced among those In- 
dians by white men who removed into their country from sixty to 
eighty years ago, and to have gradually increased in number till the 
time when the missions of the Board Avere established among them, 
in 1817 and 1818. By a census taken of the Cherokees in 1820, 
there were found to be 583 slaves. The number among the Choc- 
taws was probably smaller, though neither the missionaries nor the 
Committee have the means of ascertaining it detinitcly. Since that 
time, though the Committee are not aware that there has been any 
census, the number is believed to have been somewhat increased, 
almost exclusively, however, by births, as there have been few pur- 
chases and little trade of any sort in slaves. The number now 
owned by both tribes may probably be not far from 2,000 ; while the 
number of Indians in both is probably about 38,000. These slaves 
are almost exclusively in the liands of white men or their descend- 
ants of mixed blood,' very few being possessed by full Indians." — 
p. 58. * * * * * * 

"But slavery had been introduced and was existing there, and in 
all the adjacent white communities, when the missionaries of the 
Board entered on their labors among these tribes. They were 
strangers; no interest was felt in their work as missionaries. They 
preached the Gospel to all whom they found willing to hear them, 
whatever their complexion or condition. To the slaves and their 
masters, both generally understanding the English language, they 
had, at first, m'ore ready access than to the full Indians; and hence 
from among these, when the Spirit of God gave eflect to the truth, 
some of the earliest, most intelligent and most stable converts were 
found, such as the Browns, the Lowreys, the Saunderses, and the 
Folsoms." — lb. 

****** 



28 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

"Strongly as your Cominittee are convinced of the Avrongfulness 
and evil tendencies of slaveholding, and ardently as they desire its 
speedy and universal termination, still they cannot think that, in all 
cases, it involves individual guilt, in such a manner, that every per- 
son implicated in it can, on scriptural grounds, be excluded from 
Christian fellowship." — p. 59. 

Thus, by the subsequent admission of the same Dr. Woods, 
fortified bj the unanimous adoption of the Board, that is 
proved to be true which the Board are refusing openly and 
formally to state, namely, the injurious injiuence of Ameri- 
can slavery 2ipon their missions. 

Since the Report of Dr. Woods on the Memorials on Slavery 
presented in 1842 represents that compliance with the prayer 
of the petitioners would be a turning aside from the " one great 
object " for which the Board was incorporated, namely, 
" propagating the Gospel in heathen lands," (p. 45,) it may 
be well to quote some passages from a document further on 
in the same Annual Report, which provides for just such a 
turning aside from the " one great object " in matters other 
than slavery, as is here refused on the subject of slavery, and 
refused because it is a turning aside. 

These extracts, from a document introduced by Rev. David 
Greene, one of the Secretaries, entitled — "The promotion 

OF INTELLECTUAL CULTIVATION AND THE ARTS OF CIVILIZED 
LIFE IN CONNECTION WITH CHRISTIAN MISSIONS" are aS fol- 

lows : — 

" The course which a missionary adopts in prosecuting his work 
must be decided very much by the view wliich he takes of the great 
object to be accomplished. If he aims exclusively at being the in- 
strument of immediately converting as many souls as possible to the 
Christian faith, he will devote himself AvhoUy to what is more strict- 
ly termed preaching the Gospel; while, if his object is to have the 
Christian system embraced most intelligently by a people, most fully 
developed, and most permanently established, he may not confine him- 
self so exclusively to that one kind of labor. Doubtless, both these 
objects ought to be embraced in the plans of the intelligent mission- 
ary. He should take into view both the immediate and the ultimate 
results of his labors — those which are to be seen principally in the 
individuals whom he may directly instruct, and those which are to 
affect the community for which he labors for coming ages." — pp. 
68 69. ******* 

" 3. The missionary may labor to reform what in the habits and 
condition of a people tends to immorality. Of nearly all the domes- 
tic habits of imevangelized nations, it may be said that they are 
adapted to a corrupt state of morals, and nearly inconsistent Avith any 
other." — p. 72. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 29 

" 4. Those measures which promote the puritj^ and permanent in- 
fluence of Christianity in a nation, fall within the sphere of a mis- 
sionary's labors. Converts from paganism are, from the nature of 
tlie case, and must for some time continue to he, in a state of pupil- 
age. Their knowledge, even of the Christian doctrines and duties, 
is very limited and imperfect ; and they are so unaccustomed to in- 
dependent, conscientious moral action, and so incompetent to found 
and conduct institutions for their OAvn intellectual improvement, 
that, notwithstanding all the eflfbrts which can he made in their 
behalf, they must remain, for no short time, morally, in their minor- 
ity. Still, the aim and effort should be to teach them, as soon as 
practicable, to bear these responsibilities. The missionary's work is 
not finished till this point shall be attained." — p. 73. 

The document containing these recommendations by a 
Secretary of the Board was referred to a Committee, who 
reported that they " heartily concur " in the sentiments it 
contains, and who " recommend that it be published and cir- 
culated under the direction of the Prudential Committee." 
(p. 75.) But these very considerations demand what the 
Board refused to give, direct and constant attention to the 
subject of slavery. 

AVe now come to the Annual Report for 1843. All it 
contains in regard to slavery is the following brief abstract of 
a Memorial, and brief Report on it: — 

"Memorial on Slavery. Mr. Greene read a memorial from 
a Committee of the Second Evangelical Congregational Church in 
Cambridgeport, Mass., requesting the Board to pass resolutions to 
the following effect: '1. That they M'ill not send agents to solicit 
funds of slaveholders, nor of churches having slaveholding members. 
2. That they will not send slaveholders as missionaries to the hea- 
then, nor employ them as agents or secretaries at home." 

" This memorial was referred to Chancellor Walworth, Dr. 
Hawes, Eev. David Greene, William Page, Esq., Dr. Hay, Dr. 
Abeel, and Hon. William Darling. This Committee subsequently 
made a Eeport, which was concurred in by the Board, and is as fol- 
lows : — 

" ' That they see no reason to depart from the principles sanctioned and 
adopted by this Board at its two last annual meetings, and which were 
fully made known to the Christian public through its published proceedings. 
In the language of the reports of the former Committees on this subject, 
while we declare, that the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 
can sustain no relation to slavery which implies approbation of the system, 
and, as a Board, can have no connection or sympathy with it, we distinctly 
avow our determination to adhere to the sole purpose for which this 
Board was organized, the propagation of the Gospel in heathen lands by 
supporting missionaries and diffus^ing a knowledge of the Scriptures ; and 
that we cannot allow ourselves to be turned aside from this most sacred 
trust by mixing it up with any other concerns j nor does it belong to ua 



80 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

to question the motives of those who thinlc proper to contribute of their 
substance to aid the operations of the Board in fulfilling the command of 
our divine Master to preach the Gospel to every creature. 

" ' In relation to slaveholding agents and missionai'ies, the Committee 
are not aware that any are in the employ of the Board.'" — p. 67. 

Here the answer to the prayer of the memorialists is the 
same talk about "turning aside" which had been shown to be 
disingenuous, inapplicable, and nugatory, by their own admis- 
sions (above quoted) in the previous year. 

Yet, in this very Annual Report, (in a place where it can 
be mentioned without interference with slavery in the United 
States,) the slave trade is spoken of as an " obstacle" to mis- 
sionary labor. This occurs in the statement respecting the 
Gaboon mission in West Africa, as follows : — 

" Indeed, it seems to be a part of God's -wise j)Um, that his people, 
in spreading the Gospel over the world, shall not go on without 
obstacles of some kind, to try their faith and zeal, and compel them 
to trust his power and grace. Here tliey are likely to be found in 
the form of the slave trade, intemperance, and popery. On the 
south of the Gaboon river is a large Spanish slave factory, of which 
Mr. Wil§on has given an appalling account ; and nearly all tlie towns 
on that side are engaged in this horrible and suicidal traffic. In 
conducting it, an indispensable agent is intoxicating liquors. When 
one of the missionaries lately visited George's town, six slaves had 
just been sent from that place to the Spanish factory, and six hogs- 
heads of rum received in return, (for that, in African barter, is about 
the worth of a slave,) and this the i)eople w^ere consuming as com- 
mon property." — pp. 87, 88. 

In the Annual Report for 1844, the Prudential Committee 
inform us that three memorials on slavery were presented a 
the Annual Meeting in that year. One of them is quote 
entire, and all are referred to a Committee of which I 
Woods is again chairman. The proceedings and the Report 
are as follows : — 

" Memorials on Slavery. Three memorials on the subject of 
slavery were presented ; having been first read, they were referred 
to Dr. Woods, Dr. Tyler, Chancellor Walworth, Hon. T. W. Wil- 
liams, Dr. Stowe, Rev. S. L. Pomroy, Rev. D. Sandford, Dr. Tap- 
pan, Rev. J. W. M'Lane, and Rev. D. Greene. One of these memo- 
rials is in the following language : — 

" ' Whereas, the Gospel of Jesus Christ recognizes the common hrother- 
hood of all men, and justly regards oppression not only as a grievous 
wrong to a fellow-man, but as a heinous sin against God ; and whereas, 
the providence of God, iu the severe judgments which he has brought upon 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 31 

men and nations, most clearly corroborates his word, and proves that he 
holds this sin in utter abhorrence ; and whereas, American slavery is a 
system of oppression, so unjust and so grievous that we have reason to 
" ti'emble when wo reflect that God is just, and that his justice will not 
sleep forever," — a system whose unhappy subjects are as ignorant and 
degraded as many heathen in foreign lands ; and whereas, Christianity is 
reproached, and the Gospel hindered, both at home and abroad, because 
many Christians and Christian institutions appear, by their action or their 
silence, to approve or tolerate this iniquity without rebuke ; and whereas, 
your memorialists are informed that slavery is actually tolerated in tho 
churches under the patronage of the Board among the Choctaws and other 
Indian tribes, by the admission of slaveholdiug members, and has most 
evidently interposed an obstacle to the missionary cause ; and whereas, for 
these and other reasons, many liberal and devoted Christians have with- 
held their contributions from the Board, and many more have given with 
great reluctance, and, without a redress of grievances, tho funds of the 
Board will be seriously diminished, or a large increase prevented : 

" ' We respectfully ask, in view of these facts, that the Board would 
take this subject into serious and prayerful consideration; that they would 
declare to the world that the " sole object " of the Board is to carry tho 
whole Gospel to the heathen and benighted of this and other lands, to 
deliver them not only from the superstition of idolatry, but from the deg- 
radation and cruelty of oppression. We ask the Board earnestly to entreat 
all the missionaries and agents under its patronage to bear a decided tes- 
timony against the sin of oppression, wherever and in whatever form it 
exists ; and most especially to declare, in the name of the Board, of tho 
churches represented by it, and of Jesus Christ whom they preach, that 
American slavery is a sin against God, and that its existence in a Christian 
land is in no wise chargeable to the Christian religion which they are 
commissioned to preach, but is grossly at variance with all its holy doc- 
trines and precepts. And we further pray, that the Board would immedi- 
ately take measures to ascertain to what extent slavery or oppression exists 
in the churches under its patronage, and especially among the Choctaws 
and other Indian tribes ; and take such action at this meeting as shall 
speedily remove the evil, or exonerate them and their missionaries from all 
the responsibility and guilt of its continuance or toleration. We also ask 
that this memorial, and the action upon it, be communicated to all the mis- 
sionaries and agents of the Board, and to tho public generally through tho 
Missionary Herald; all which is the prayer of your memorialists, tho 
undersigned, members or patrons of the Board. 

" J. C. Lovojov, Jacob Ide, David Sandford, M. M. Fisher, Cliarles Packard, Geo, 
W. Hunt, Wiiliain N. Haskell, ^■atl)anicl Clark, Samuel Allen, Elijah Stoddard, 
George 'i'rask, J. 0. Webster, U. M. Chipnian, "SI. Blake, William I'liipps, Horace D. 
"Walker, U. Simmons, Teter Adams, Israel i'rask." 

" The above-named Committee made a Report, which was adopted 
by the Board, and is as follows : — 

" ' The petitions referred to the Committee are three, and two of them 
are witliout date. They have all been received since the commencement 
of the meeting in this place. One of them is from members of tho Trin- 
itarian church in Fitchburg, signed by Rev. Philo C. Pettibone and fifty- 
two others, making in tho whole twenty-four males and twenty-nino 
females. The next is from ten members of John-street Church, Lowell. 
The third is from J. C. Lovejoy, Jacob Ide, and ten other highly re- 
spectable ministers of the Gospel in this State, and seven laymen. In the 



32 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

first and second petitions above mentioned, this Board are requested and 
urged to take measures to prevent receiving into their treasury any moneys 
contributed, in one way or another, by slaveholders, or any of the avails 
of slave labor. In the one from Fitchburg, we are desired also to pass 
resolutions declaring that " American slavery is a sin against God and 
man, and ought to be immediately abolished, and that we will not employ 
missionaries or agents who are slaveholders." 

" ' In regard to the above request as to missionaries and agents, this 
Committee are not able to find what reason the petitioners can have for 
making such a request, as it is not known that there is at present any 
complaint, or any ground of complaint, against the doings of the Board in 
respect to this subject, inasmuch as they have no missionaries or agents 
who are slaveholders. We did suppose that the particular and full infor- 
mation which has been given of late on this subject, is, and must be, sat- 
isfactory to the friends of the cause in which we are engaged. 

" ' As to the other subjects touclred upon in these two petitions, that is, 
the declaration we are requested to- make as to slavery, and the measures 
we are requested to adopt, the Committee are unable to recommend any 
thing more, and they think the Board would not be inclined to do any 
thing more than to refer the petitioners to the reports which have been 
made and unanimously accepted on the same subjects at previous meetings. 
In those reports, the Board have set forth, as plainly as possible, the 
views they entertain on these subjects, and the principles which have gov- 
erned their proceedings. They have stated, what is never to be forgotten, 
that the Board was established and incorporated for the express purpose of 
propagating the Gospel in heathen lands, by supporting missionaries and 
diffusing a knowledge of the Scriptures; that the Board have confined 
themselves to this one rjreat object, and that a regard to our sacred trust 
requires us to pursue the object with undivided zeal, and not to turn aside 
from it, or mix any other concerns with it. And we still think that the 
Lord of missions and the Savior of the world will approve of this deliber- 
ate purpose of ours and this course of action, and would frown upon us if 
we should depart from it. And we have the comfort to believe, also, that 
this is the only purpose and course of action which will give permanent 
satisfaction to the Christian community, who are enlisted in the cause of 
missions ; being fully persuaded that any essential departure from this 
I)lan of operation would tend to defeat the great end we are pursuing, the 
conversion of the heathen. 

" ' As to the moneys contributed by slaveholders, it is still our opinion 
that, considering the character of the Board and the nature of its objects, 
it may fairly be presumed that the funds contributed to our treasury 
are obtained in a proper manner and contributed from right motives; and 
that it is very manifest that we cannot properly examine into the motives 
of those who sustain our operations; and that an attempt to do this would 
be marked with absurdity, and would plunge us into difficulties from which 
we could not be easily extricated. 

"'It will not, we trust, be overlooked that, in reply to previous peti- 
tions, the Board has repeatedly and very frankly declared, that they can 
sustain no relation to slavery which implies approbation of the sy stein, and, as a 
Board J can have no connection or sympathy with it: — "plainly intimating 
that we consider it one of the obvious evils which exist in the community, 
but the removal of which, though we regard it as an object of fervent de- 
sire and prayer, does not fall within our province as a missionary Board." 
We know not how any man, who maturely considers the subject, can desire 
more than this. And it is quite certain, that without a change of views, 
the Board can do nothing beyond this. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 33 

" ' The Prudential Committee, the Secretaries, and the members of this 
Board, are manifestly enlisted in one of the greatest, most benevolent, and 
most successful enterprises ever undertaken by man. We glory in the 
cross of Christ. We glory in that work of the salvation of men, and the 
approaching conversion of the world, which depends upon that cross, and 
results from it. We most heartily invite Christians to unite with us, and 
shall thank and honor all who help to sustain this pious undertaking, 
and who contribute of their property and their prayers to aid this blessed 
cause. With any of our brethren who are dissatisfied with our doings, we 
can have no controversy or contention. We cannot turn aside from our 
arduous work for the purpose of strife. We have no time for strife, and 
our Lord forbids us to engage in strife. If any of our dear brethren 
soberly think that they can do the will of God, and advance his cause in 
some other way better than by joining their efforts with ours, we will be so 
far from complaining of them for following their own convictions, that wo 
will pray God to guide them by wisdom from above, and will rejoice in all 
they do to spread the Gospel of Christ. 

" 'The last petition above mentioned refers to a new subject, that is, tho 
existence of slavery among some of our missionary churches, particularly 
among the Choctaws and other Indian tribes, and requests that the Eoard 
would take measures to ascertain the facts in the case. In conformity 
with this request, the Committee have made use of all the means in their 
power, and some of them of special importance, in order to ascertain these 
facts. And so far as they are at present informed, they sec no reason to 
charge the missionaries among the Choctaws, or any where else, with either 
a violation or neglect of duty. But it has been impossible in so short a 
time to obtain that exact and complete information on the subject which 
is indispensably necessary to a full and satisfactory report. The Committee 
must, therefore, for the reason suggested, ask the Board to receive what is 
now offered, as their report in part on the above mentioned memoi'ials, 
and request that they may have time to make a thorough inquiry into the 
state of the churches in our various missionary stations in regard to slave- 
ry, and, with the help of the information thus obtained, to prepare a 
report on this part of the subject committed to them, to be presented to 
the Board at their next annual meeting. And may the Lord grant that 
on this, and on every subject relating to the high and holy work of tho 
world's salvation, all who love the name of Jesus may be of the same mind 
and judgment, and love one another with pure hearts fervently.'" — pp. 
66-6U. 

In this same Annual Report for 1844 is the following in- 
cidental information, showing (in a place not affecting slavery 
in the United States !) that the Prudential Committee recog- 
nize the prohibition of slavery, and of distinctions founded 
upon color, by the governments under which their operations 
are carried on, as auspicious and highly satisfactory in view 
of their missionary work : — 

" The churches acting through the Board have seen affliction and 

disappointment in their South African mission, until they generally 

acquiesced in the idea of its discoutinuance. A resolution to that 

effect was accordingly adopted by the Committee last year, and af- 

2* 



34 



THE AMERICAN BOARD 



proved by the Board, and the missionaries were instructed accord- 
ingly/' _p. 81. ***** * 

" The letter instructing our brethren to close the concerns of the 
mission was dated Aug. 31, 1843. Previous to this, as it now 
appears, the native settlements about Umlazi and Umgeni had not 
only received great accessions of emigrants from the Zulu coimtry, 
but new light was thrown on the prospects of the native settlers in 
that region, and their permanent relations to the colony began to as- 
sume an auspicious bearing. In creating a new colony at Katal, it 
"was officially announced that no law should be allowed recognizing 
a distinction founded upon color; that no attack should be made 
upon any people witliout the colony by persons not acting under the 
direction of the colonial government ; and that slavery should not be 
tolerated in any form." — pp. 81, 82. * * * 

"This, of course, is a different state of things from that which 
was known to the Committee and the Board at the last annual 
meeting, or which they then saw any good reason for anticipating." — 
pp. 82, 83. ****** * 

" In view of such facts and considerations, the Committee could 
not hesitate to authorise the missionaries to resume their labors at 
Natal." — p. 84. 

Again, in the same Annual Report for 1844, two pages 
further on, speaking of the Gaboon nation (again in a place 
"where American slavery is not in question !) the Prudential 
Committee venture to characterize slavery as a vice, thus : — 

" They are an amiable people ; apart from those vices which be- 
long to them as heatlien, such as slavery, polygamy, superstition 
and intemperance." 

Slavery among the vices which belong to the Gaboon nation 
as heathen ! 

Let it be remembered, that at this very time, slaveholders 
were sitting with the Board as Corporate Members and as 
Honorary Members, that the missionaries of the Board among 
the Cherokees and Choctaws were encouraging and protect- 
ing slavery by taking slaveholders into their churches, and 
that Dr. Woods and his Committee were trying to stave off 
inquiries and remonstrances in opposition to this wickedness ! 

The Prudential Committee name intemperance and sla- 
very as vices belonging to the Gaboon people as heathen. 
Intemperance and slavery were also among the vices of the 
Cherokees. But while their slavery was tolerated and pro- 
tected by the missionaries, their intemperance was opposed by 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 35 

preaching, and printing, and individual remonstrance, and as- 
sociated action, in the following vigorous manner : — 

" In relation to the cause of temperance, also, it may be proper to 
remark, that we scarcely know a member of any of our churches 
in good standing, who does not belong to the Temperance Society. 
AVe beUeve the same is true of professors of religion of otlier de- 
nominations ; and that it is now generally considered among the 
Cherokee people, that the use of intoxicating drinks or the traiiic in 
them is inconsistent with the Christian profession." — p. 219. 

This is what the Cherokee missionaries say. On the same 
page, the Prudential Committee say — 

" In addition to what is said above relative to temperance, Mr. 
"Worcester mentions in a letter more recently received, that, during 
the past year, as near as can be ascertained, about 700 persons 
have joined the Cherokee Temperance Society, pledging themselves 
to entire abstinence from all intoxicating drinks. The Society now 
embraces about 2,300 persons ; 300 or 400 of whom are white and 
black people, and the remainder Cherokees. Temperance is be- 
lieved to be decidedly advancing in the Cherokee commimity." — 
pp. 219, 220. 

Among the printing executed this year at Park Hill sta- 
tion, in the Cherokee mission, is — "Evils of Intoxicating 
Drinks," 2d edition; a tract of 24 pages, of which 5,000 
copies were printed. 

Such is the difference which the Cherokee missionaries chose 
to make, and which the Prudential Committee allowed to be 
made, between the treatment of intemperance and slavery in 
the Cherokee mission ! 

There is every reason to think that, had the missionaries 
chosen to make the attempt, as much ground might have been 
gained among these Indians against slavery as against intem- 
perance. In the Annual Report for 1824, (p. 70,) it is said 
of the Cherokee mission — 

" The converts generally exhibit a tenderness of conscience, a 
docility, and a desire for further instruction, which are in the high- 
est degree encouraging." 

As an instance of this, it is mentioned that a man came 
nineteen miles to know when the next Sabbath would arrive, 
that he and his neighbors might thenceforth regularly observe 
it. 

Neither did the avoidance, by these missionaries, of direct 



36 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

appeal to thoir converts against slaveholding, proceed from 
uncertainty about the proper method of conducting reforma- 
tory operations, either on their part, or on the part of the 
Prudential Committee. For this very Report, under the 
head "General remarks on the Choctaw mission" — speaking 
of the fact that intemperate drinking, though diminishing in 
some places, was increasing in others — said: 

" The only way to gain a complete victory over this vice is to ex- 
cliule spirits altogether. The people cannot receive this enemy into 
tlieir houses -without being overcome by it." — p. 87. 

To the same effect we find, in a statement of the Pruden- 
tial Committee in the Annual Report for 1832 — respecting 
the Choctaws just after their removal to their new territory — 

" A Sabbath Scliool and Temperance Society have been organized, 
anil are exerting a good influence. 

"A church has been organized, embracing fifty-seven members, 
all but one of wliom were members of churches in the old nation, 
and all agree to abstain entirely from the use of intoxicating 
liquors." — p. 109. 

In the same Report, (Appendix, p. 162,) among " Instruc- 
tions of the Prudential Committee " to missionaries then 
about to depart, are the following : — 

" Give no countenance to the use of ardent spirits. Use not the 
poisoned cup yourselves, nor present it to the lip of foreigner or 
native." 

The missionaries among the Cherokees, finding their labors 
impeded and their success neutralized by intemperance, took 
these active measures against it. They preached against it, 
talked against it, printed tracts against it, adopted church 
rules against it, formed societies against it, and wrote to the 
Prudential Committee periodical accounts of these labors, and 
of the success or want of success attending them ; which re- 
ports the Prudential Committee printed in their monthly 
" Missionary Herald," and in their Annual Report. 

Of another practice prevailing among the Cherokees, 
(which the Prudential Committee have admitted to be an evil 
and a vice,) the missionaries say nothing. They neither 
preach, print, talk, nor form societies against it. They make 
no reports against it, and the Prudential Committee acquiesce 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 37 

in their silence ! They take members stained with its guilt 
into their churches, and the Pradential Committee allow it ! 
And when the Sandwich Islands missionaries, finding this 
same evil and vice of slavery an obstruction to their mission- 
ary work, make representations and remonstrances against a 
continuance of it in this country which blocks the wheels of 
their opposition to it abroad, the Prudential Committee refuse 
to print their reports ! 

At the Annual Meeting in 1845, a larger number than 
ever of memorials against slavery were presented. These 
were referred to the Committee (Dr. Woods chairman) which 
made but a partial report the preceding year. As the eva- 
sive remarks and suggestions of the reports previously made 
upon memorials of this class did not satisfy or silence the re- 
monstrants, Dr. Woods seems to have thought it necessary to 
bestow elaborate attention upon the subject, and his report, 
and the proceedings in regard to it, occupy nine octavo pages 
of the Annual Heport for 18-i5, as follows: — 

" MEMORIALS ON SLAVERY. 

" At the meeting of the Board which was held at Worcester in 

1844, three memorials relating to the subject of slaver}- were 
committed to Dr. AVoods, Dr. Tyler, Chancellor A^alworth, Hon. 
T. W. Williams, Dr. Stowe, Rev. S. L. Pomroy, Kev. D. Sand- 
ford, Dr. Tappan, llev. J. W. McLane, and Rev. D. Greene. 
The Committee made their report in part ; but in respect to ' the 
existence of slavery among some of our missionary churches, par- 
ticularly among the Choctaws and other Indian tribes' — one of 
the topics referred to by the memorialists — they asked leave to 
submic their report at the meeting to be held in Brooklyn in 

1845. To this Committee were also referred, during the recent 
meeting, certain resolutions of the Worcester Central Association, 
a memorial of the Worcester North Association, certain resolu- 
tions of the Chatauque County Foreign Missionary Society, and 
a memorial of the Somerset and Franklin Associations. The re- 
port of the Committee is as follows : — 

" ' The Committee to whom, at the last annual meeting of this 
Board, were referred certain memorials relating to the Board's 
alleged connection with slavery, having been instructed to seek fur- 
ther information concerning the admission of slaveholders to churches 
under the care of the missionaries of the Board, have made the in- 
quiries directed, and now ask leave to report. 

" ' The Committee do not deem it necessary to discuss the general 
subject of slavery, as it exists in these United States, or to enlarge 



38 THE AMEMCAN BOARD 

on the wickedness of the system, or on the disastrous moral and 
social influences wliich slavery exerts upon the less enlightened and 
less civilized communities where the missionaries of this Board are 
laboring. On these points, there is probably, among the members 
of tlie Board and its friends, little difierence of opinion. 

" ' Tlie Committee propose to confine themselves mainly to a 
statement of some of the principles which should govern the Board 
and its missionaries in prosecuting their work so as to secure the 
highest measure of the divine approbation, and most elFectually and 
speedily to accomplish the great object in view ; together with a 
statement of the principal facts relating to the connection of persons 
holding slaves with mission churches under the care of the Board. 

" ' Among the principles which the Committee would present for 
the consideration of the Board, and which they regard as funda- 
mental, and to be adhered to in planning and conducting every 
mission undertaken under the authority of the great Eedeemer and 
Head of the Church, are the following : 

"'1. In the manner of preaching the Gospel, judging of the evi- 
dences of piety in professed converts, gathering churches, adminis- 
tering the ordinances and exercising discipline, there should be a 
close conformity to the commission given by Christ to his followers, 
and to the recorded instructions and acts of his inspired apostles. 
These are found in the New Testament, and are the models and the 
laws, which, in all important matters, are to govern those who prop- 
agate the Gospel and minister to the churches in Christ's name. 

"'2. The primary object aimed at in missions should be to bring 
men to a saving knowledge of Christ by making known to them 
the way of salvation through his cross. It has regard to individual 
character, and is an object simple in itself and purely spiritual. 
The commission given by Christ evidently contemplates the work 
to be done as one that is to be wrought in individual men, regarded 
as rational and immortal beings ; all of whom, of every grade and 
condition, having great interests alike, the more important of which 
lie in another state of existence. To these interests, primarily and 
mainly, and to that change of individual character and conduct 
which is indispensable to secure them, the Christian missionary is to 
direct his labors. If other objects, less spiritual and important, are 
connected with the enterprise as predominant objects of interest 
and pursuit, they impair its efiiciency and endanger the great result. 
/" 3. As the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper are ob- 
viously designed by Christ to be means of grace for all who give 
credible evidence of repentance and faith in him, these ordinances 
cannot scripturally and rightly be denied to professed converts 
from among the heathen, after they shall have given such evidence. 
/"4. The missionaries, acting under the commission of Christ, and 
with the instructions of the New Testament before them, are them- 
selves, at first, and subsequently, in connection with the churches 
they have gathered, the rightful and exclusive judges of what con- 
stitutes adequate evidence of piety and fitness for church fellowship 
in professed converts. They alone can be folly acquainted Avith all 
the circumstances affecting the development of piety in individuals, 
and intelligently lorm an opinion how far they are aiming to conform 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 39 

their cliaracter and conduct to the doctrines and precepts of the 
Bible. 

" ' 5. Both before and after professed converts are received to 
chnrcli fcUowsliip and the ordinances are administered to tliem, the 
missionaries should give them such instructions from the Gospel as 
they believe to be, in their circumstances, best adapted to nurture 
and develop all the Christian graces, and lead to the practice of all 
the Christian duties. The indulgence of any knoAvn sin and the 
neglect of any known duty is to be decidedly discountenanced. 

" ' Such your Committee deem to be the divinely established 
principles according to A^hich the missionary work among unevan- 
gelized nations should be prosecuted; and in this simple manner 
only, as it seems to them, can the thoughts and feelings of the 
heathen and other unevangelized communities be so turned towards 
God and their relations to him, and be brought into such a spiritual 
relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, as will at length lead to the cor- 
rection of all the social wrongs and disorders which now, in various 
forms, so much afflict the benighted and idolatrous portions of our 
race. 

" ' Civil and religious liberty, improvement in civilization and the 
arts of life, and the introduction of the best social institutions, ad- 
mitted to be indispensable to the highest well-being of a community, 
are still secondary to the one primary object of securing holiness in 
the hearts of individuals. Aiming steadily at this is the way for the 
missionary most surely and speedily to work out the others ; and 
your Committee believe that it is only by regarding these classes of 
objects in their proper relations, and keeping them in their proper 
places, and pursuing them in their proper order, that either can be 
ettectually attained and permanently established on the broad field 
of the world. 

" ' In respect to the social and moral evils with which missionaries 
are to come into contact in prosecuting their work among the be- 
nighted nations, and in relation to which the foregoing principles 
are believed by your Committee to appl}^, it should be borne in 
mind that they are by no means few, or of limited territorial extent. 
The evils of slavery will probably be met in some form, in nearly 
every part of the great missionary field, and the principles adopted 
must atfect the whole scheme for evangelizing the world; and are, 
therefore, of the utmost importance, and should be most carefully 
examined and settled. The unnatural state of society in which 
these evils originate is one of the consequences of human depravi- 
ty — of that all-absorbing selfishness — that predominance of the lust 
of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, which are de- 
veloped in our fallen nature. This state of society is to be rectified 
by diminishing the power of that terrible principle in which this, as 
•well as all other wickedness and moral disorders, originate. Invol- 
untary servitude is believed to pervade nearly the whole of the Af- 
rican continent, though with widely diflerent degrees of severity. 
In some form, it exists in many, if not all parts of India. It per- 
vades Siam, and nearly all ISIohammedan con),munities ; and it Avill 
probably be found, in some of its modifications, in China and Japan. 

" ' The unrighteousness of the principles on which the whole sys- 



40 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

tern is based, and the violation of the natural rights of man, the 
debasement, wickedness, and misery it involves, and which are in 
fact witnessed, to a greater or less extent, wherever it exists, must 
call forth the hearty condemnation of all possessed of Christian feel- 
ing and sense of right, and make its entire and speedy removal an 
object of earnest and prayerful desire to every true friend of God 
and man. This object, as your Committee believe, can be efiected 
in no other manner tban by the prevalence, in these communities, of 
tbat regard for justice and human rights and that humane and phi- 
Ian tliropic feeling of which Christian knowledge and piety are the 
only permanent basis. 

" 'But slavery is not the only social wrong to be met in the pro- 
gress of tlie missionary work, and to which the principles which 
are adopted in prosecuting that work must probably be applied. 
There are the castes of India, deeply and inveterately inwrought in 
the very texture of society, causing to the mass of the people hered- 
itary and deep degradation, leading to the most inhuman and con- 
temptuous feelings and conduct in social life, and presenting most 
formidable barriers to every species of improvement. There are 
also tlie unrestrained exactions, made in the form of revenue, or of 
military or other service, connected with a species of feudalism, pre- 
vailing in many unenlightened communities, which are most un- 
righteous in their character and paralyzing in their influence, and 
cause unlimited distress to individuals and families. There are also 
those various forms and degrees of oppression, whether of law or of 
usage, prevaihng under the arbitrary governments which bear sway 
over the larger part of the earth's surfiice. So that the principles 
which we draw from the word of God for our guidance as a mission- 
ary society, are not for use among a few pagan tribes merely, but 
among nearly all the benighted nations of the earth. 

'"Is tills Board, then, in propagating the Gospel, to be held re- 
sponsible for directly working out these reorganizations of the social 
system, without giving Christian truth time to produce its changes 
in the hearts of individuals and in public sentiment, and without 
being allowed to make any practical use of those most effective in- 
fluences which are involved — in respect to all who have grace in 
their hearts — in the special ordinances of the Gospel? Or, should 
it be found, as the result of experience, that souls among the heathen 
are, in fact, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, before they are freed 
from all participation in these social and moral evils, and that con- 
vincing evidence can be given that they are so regenerated, — then 
may not the master and the slave, the ruler and the subject, giving 
such evidence of spiritual renovation, be all gathered into the 
same fold of Christ ( And may tliey not all there and in this man- 
ner, under proper teaching, learn the great lesson, (so difficult for 
partially sanctified men to learn,) that in Christ Jesus there is nei- 
tlier Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free ; but that all are one in 
hun ? And may they not, under these influences, have effectually 
nurtured in them those feelings of brotherly love, and that regard 
lor eiich other's rights and welfare, in which alone is found the rem- 
edy tor all such evils i? Under such influences, may not the master 
be prepared to break the bonds of the slave, and the oppressive ruler 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 41 

led to dispense justice to the subject, and the proud Brahmin frater- 
nally to embrace the man of low caste, and each to do it cheerfully, 
because it is humane and right, and because they are all children of 
the great household of God ? By such influences, mainly, is not 
the great moral transformation to be wrought in the master and the 
ruler, in the bondman and the oppressed, all-important to both, and 
the only sure guaranty for permanent improvement in the social 
character and condition of either ? 

" ' In proceeding on these principles, the missions under the care 
of this Board, and the churches gathered by them, are no otherwise 
connected with slavery, than they are Avith every other evidence and 
result of imperfect moral renovation in their converts and church 
members ; and they no more really give their sanction to the one, than 
they do to all the others. Wherever the Gospel is brought to bear 
upon the community where slavery or any other form of oppression 
exists, its spirit is decidedly adverse to such a state of things, tend- 
ing to mitigate the evils of it while it continues, and ultimately, and 
inthe most desirable manner, wholly to do it away, — not by con- 
straint, nor with violence ; but on those principles of Christian love 
which this Board and its missionaries are seeking to implant in 
every bosom, and to invest with all possible power to govern the 
hearts and the conduct of men. 

" ' Such is the view which your Committee take of the missionary 
work, and such are the princiijles which, it seems to them, should be 
adhered to in prosecuting it. How far ecclesiastical bodies in this 
country may properly instruct foreign missionaries connected with 
them, on these subjects, it is not for this Committee to decide. Jt is 
obvious, however, that the points on which this Board, after having 
selected missionaries in whose character and qualifications they con- 
fide, should insist, are such as are embraced in the principles already 
dwelt upon. 

" ' These juinciples, your Committee believe, do not interfere with 
that liberty which Christ designed his ministers should possess, or 
that responsibility with which he invests them when he sends them 
forth to preach liis Gospel in heathen lands. If they essentially 
depart from these principles, and persevere in so doing, they should 
be recalled as incompetent or unfaithful to their trust. How far 
holding slaves, or any thing else, involving Avliat is morally wrong, 
and which still clings to the heathen convert, aflects the evidence 
that a principle of grace has been implanted in his heart, the mis- 
sionary, in view of his commission, the instructions of the New- 
Testament, and all the circumstances of the case, as they are pres- 
ent before him, must, in connection with his church, and under a 
solemn sense of responsibility to Christ, form his judgment, and on 
that judgment he must act. Surely, no other persons are in circum- 
stances so favorable as he for deciding and acting correctly. Such 
freedom and such responsibility in the missionary, your Committee 
believe, cannot be materially abridged, Avithout the most disastrous 
consequences to the missionary's own happiness and efl[iciency, and 
to the welfare of the heathen. 

'"Having gone so fully into an exposition of the principles on 
which, in their opinion, the New Testament requires missionaries to 



42 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

proceed in preaching the Gospel and administering the Christian or- 
dinances, the Committee would now spread before the Board the 
proceedings of the missionaries, so far as connected with the subject 
under consideration. 

" ' The Committee believe that no established system of involun- 
tary servitude prevails among any tribe of North American Indians, 
where the missionaries of this Board are laboring, except the Cher- 
okees and Clioctaws ; nor have they been able to learn that any of 
the missionaries of the Board, laboring in foreign lands, have been 
called to act on the question of receiving those who hold slaves to 
their churches. The following statements will, therefore, relate to 
the Cherokee and Choctaw missions. From these, full communica- 
tions have been received in reply to inquiries addressed to the seve- 
ral missionaries. 

'"Negro slaves appear to have been introduced among those In- 
dians by white men who removed into their country from sixty to 
eighty years ago, and to have gradually increased in number till 
the time when the missions of the Board were established among 
them, in 1817 and 1818. By a census taken of the Cherokees in 
1820, there were found to be 583 slaves. The number among the 
Choctaws was probably smaller, though neither the missionaries nor 
the Committee have the means of ascertaining it definitely. Since 
that time, though the Committee are not aware that there has been 
any census, tlie number is believed to have been somewhat increased, 
almost exclusively, however, by births, as there have been few pur- 
chases and little trade of any sort in slaves. The number now 
owned by both tribes may probably be not far from 2,000 ; while the 
number of Indians in both is probably about 38,000. These slaves 
are almost exclusively in the hands of white men or their descend- 
ants of mixed blood, very few being possessed by full Indians. 

" ' That slavery should exist at all in these tribes, who have suffered 
so severely from the violation of their own rights by their Avhite 
neighbors, is deepl}^ to be regretted; and all should earnestly pray, 
that as social improvement and Christian knowledge are rapidly ad- 
vancing among them, they may speedily and nobly exemplify the 
spirit of true philanthropy, as well as the Gospel law of love, by 
shovs'ing that tliey duly appreciate the rights and welfare of the 
whole race of man. 

'"But slavery had been introduced and was existing there, and in 
all the adjacent white communities, when the missionaries of the 
Board entered on their labors among these tribes. They were 
strangers ; no interest was felt in their work as missionaries. They 
preached the Gospel to all whom they found wilUng to hear them, 
whatever their complexion or condition. To the slaves and their 
masters, both generally understanding the English language, they 
iiad, at first, more ready access, than to the fulflndians; and hence 
trom among these, when the Spirit of God gave effect to the truth, 
suine of the earliest, most intelligent, and most stable converts were 
found, such as the Browns, the Lowreys, the Saunderses, and the 
I'olsums. 

" ' Relative to the principles on which professed converts were to 
be received to the churches, all the missionaries of the Board among 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY, 



43 



the Cherokees and Choctaws seem to have been perfectly unani- 
mous. " Both masters and slaves," says iNIr. Butrick, " I received 
on the same principle, viz., on the ground of their faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ." Mr. Worcester says, " The general principle on 
which I have voted for the reception of members is, that all are to 
be received who desire it, and who give evidence of a change of 
heart." Mr. Wright says, " When any, whether masters or ser- 
vants, have given evidence of a saving change of heart, of repent- 
ance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they have been received." 
Substantially the same is the language of all the missionaries. On 
this principle, of receiving to their churches all those, and only 
those, who gave satisfactory evidence of repentance and faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, they all appear to have proceeded. 

"'Owing to the changes from one church to another which have 
occurred in both these missions, the whole number of slaveholders 
received cannot here be stated precisely. 

"'The whole number of the Cherokee tribe is probably about 
18,000, and the number of slaves owned by them is probably about 
1,000. The whole number of members connected with our churches 
in this tribe is 240; of whom 15 hold slaves, 21 are themselves 
slaves, and four are free negroes. 

" ' The whole population of the Choctaw tribe, including the 
Chickasaws, is about 20,000. The whole number connected with 
our churches there is G03 ; of whom 20 hold slaves, 131 are them- 
selves slaves, and 7 are free negroes. It may also be stated that our 
brethren of the Moravian, Baptist and Methodist denominations 
have churches in both these tribes, to which many, both of Indian 
and African descent, both masters and slaves, have been received ; 
and of the latter, especially, a much larger proportion have been 
gathered into their churches, than into those connected with our 
missions. Of the estimated number of slaves in these tribes, it 
may, however, be stated, that about one in 18 are connected with the 
churches under the care of our missions ; while of the Indians and 
other classes of persons, less than one in 50 are embraced in the 
same churches* showing that the slaves have not, compared with 
the Indians, been by any means neglected. 

" ' In regard to tlie kind and amount of instruction given by the 
missionaries in relation to slavery, and the duties of masters and 
slaves, the missionaries seem substantially to agree. Mr. Byington 
saj's, " We give such instructions to masters and servants as are 
contained in the epistles, and yet not in a way to give the subject 
a peculiar prominence. For then it Avould seem to be personal, as 
there are usually but one or two slaveholders at our meetings. In 
private, we converse about all the evils and dangers of slavery." 
Of a similar tenor are the remarks of Mr. Wright. "The instruc- 
tions, public and private, direct and indirect, have been such as are 
found in the Bible. As a spiritual watchman, I have wished to 
comply with that direction in Ezek. 3 : 17, ' Therefore, hear the word 
from my mouth, and give them warning from me.' " 

" ' In opinion and practice on this subject, there will undoubtedly 
be some diversity among those, in different circumstances, who en- 
tertain the same views as to the unrighteousness of the system of 



44 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

slavery itself, and the desirableness of having it abolished. The 
missionaries of this Board among the Cherokees and Choctaws, 
and, so far as the Committee are informed, all missionaries, of ev- 
ery denomination, laboring in similar circumstances, among those 
Indians and in all other places, substantially agree in the views and 
practice presented in the foregoing extracts. 

" ' Strongly as your Committee are convinced of the wrongfulness 
and evil tendencies of slaveholding, and ardently as they desire its 
speedy and universal termination, still, they cannot think that, in all 
cases, it involves individual guilt, in such a manner, that every 
person implicated in it can, on scriptural grounds, be excluded from 
Christian fellowship. In the language of Dr. Chalmers, when treat- 
ing on tins point in a recent letter, the Committee would say, 
" Distinction ought to be made between the character of a sjjstem, 
and the character of the persons whom circumstances have impli- 
cated therewith; nor would it always be just, if all the recoil and 
horror wherewith the former is contemplated, were visited in the 
form of condemnation and moral indignancy upon the latter." Dr. 
Chalmers proceeds to apply this distinction to the subject now 
under consideration, in the following manner, in which sentiments, 
substantially, Drs. Candhsh and Cunningham, with the whole Gen- 
eral Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, unanimously con- 
cm-.* Slavery, says he, we hold to be a system chargeable with 
atrocities and evils often the most hideous and ai)palling Vhich have 
either atflicted or deformed our species ; yet we must not there- 
fore say of every man born within its territory, who has grown up 
familiar with its sickening spectacles, and not only by his habits 
been inured to its transactions and sights, but Avho by inheritance is 
himself the owner of slaves, that, unless he make the resolute sac- 
rifice and renounce his property in slaves, he is, therefore, not a 
Christian, and should be treated as an outcast from all the distinc- 
tions and privileges of Christian society. 

* The language of the report, presented by Dr. Candlish, chairman of 
the Committee to whom the subject was referred, and which report tho 
paper containing it says was unanimously adopted by the General Assem- 
bly, IS as follows : 

" Without being prepared to adopt the principle that, in the circum- 
stances in which they are placed, the churches in America ought to con- 
sider slaveholding per se an insuperable barrier in the way of enioying 
Christian privileges, or an offence to be visited with excommunication, all 
must agree in holding, that whatever rights the civil law of the land may 
give a master over his slaves, as chattels personal, it cannot but be sin of 
the deepest dye m him to regard and treat them as such : and whosoever 
cuninuts that sin in any sense, or deals otherwise with his slaves than as a 
Chn.st.an man ought to deal with his fellow-man, whatever power the law 
. ay gne him over them, ought to be held disqualified for Christian com- 

i Xn, vJi? ';i T'^^ *^' ""P^^^^" «^ ^"' *1^^^ it is the duty of 
i.rust.ans, when they find themselves, unhappily, in the predicament of 

t:S't^. ':.:;"' r '':, ': '' "^^ \' p-«^-^e, at the ij:^^^ : 

itir s avcs ; and when that cannot be accomplished, to «eeure them \n 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 45 

" ' Such, substantially, are the views of your Committee ; and the 
more they study God's method of proceeding in regard to war, 
sLavery, polygamy, and other kindred social wrongs, as it is unfolded 
in the Bible, the more they are convinced that, in dealing with in- 
dividuals implicated in these wrongs, of long standing, and intimate- 
ly interwoven with the relations and movements of "the social sys- 
tem, the utmost kindness and forbearance are to be exercised, which 
are compatible with stead}' adherence to right principle. 

" ' The effect of the introduction of Christian knowledge among 
these Indians, so far as masters and slaves have come under instruc- 
tion, has, in the opinion of the missionaries, been highl// bcneficitd, in 
respect to the character and conduct of both. The condition of the 
latter has been, they tliink, greatly meliorated. So far as the 
amount of labor required of their slaves, the food, clothing and 
houses furnished for them, kind social intercourse with them, regard 
for the domestic and family relations and affections, and for their 
comfort generally, and opportunities alForded for religious instruction 
and worship, are concerned, the missionaries think tliat instances of 
serious delinquency are very rare among their church members. 
Should any church member who has servants under him be 
chargeable with cruelty, injustice, or unkindness tOAvards them; 
should he neglect what is essential to their present comfort or their 
eternal welfare ; or should he in any manner transgress the par- 
ticular instructions which the Apostles give concerning the conduct 
of a master, he would be admonished by the church, and unless he 
should repent, he would be excommunicated. Such appear, from 
their communications, to be the views of our missionaries ; and 
such a course they think their churches would sustain. 

" ' In Christian instruction and care, both of their children and 
their slaves, the missionaries represent these Indian church mem- 
bers as being generally and often greatly, deficient ; but not much 
more so in respect to the latter, than the former. Converts of the 
first or even of the second generation, gathered from communities 
just entering on a course of intellectual, moral and social improve- 
ment, will seldom so tar rise above their former views and habits, or 
become so far under the control of the new influences brought to 
bear upon them, as to compare advantageously, in these respects, 
with nations on which Christian light has been shining for centuries. 
Christianity itself, though requiring, and adapted to promote, in 
those who embrace it, the highest exemplariness in all the duties of 
life, does not often achieve these great transformations at once. 
There is to be line upon line — precept upon precept — here a little 
and there a little — first the blade, then the ear, and after that, the 
full corn in the ear. 

" ' Among the Cherokees and Choctaws, the church members are 
but poorly qualified to give religious instruction ; and often the 
slaves, — owing to their better knowledge of the English language, 
qUid consequently their easier intercourse with the missionaries and 
otiiers, — are more intelligent, on religious subjects, than their masters. 
Some of the most eminent instances of well-informed, devout and 
fcteadfast piety in these mission churches have been among them. 



46 TUE AMERICAN BOARD 

In-lividuals of tliem have been much respected, and highly useful 
in nifotimis for ])raver and exhortation. 

" ' Some of the slaveholders in these churches have been known 
to require their slaves to attend meetings and other opportunities 
for obtaining religious instruction ; all are believed to favor their 
doing so ; while none have been known to throw obstacles in their 
way. Before it was forbidden by law, in 18il, numbers of their 
slaves were taught to read in Sabbath and some in week-day 
schools ; and such instruction is still, to some extent, given in pri- 
vate. Seven out of fourteen slaves, members of the Fairfield 
church in the Cherokee country, can read, and one can write. 
Slaves are sometimes called upon to read tlie Scriptures and lead in 
prayer in the families of their masters. One who has been oc- 
casionally employed as a helper in the missionary work, highly 
esteemed for his intelligence and exemplary piety, has been left, by 
the will of his master, manager of his property and virtually the 
guardian of his orphan child and heir. 

" ' The Committee cannot advert to some of the laws enacted by 
both the Cherokees and Choctaws without pain and regret, especial- 
ly those which prohibit teaching slaves to read, throw impediments 
in the way of emancipation, restrict slaves in the possession of 
property, and embarrass the residence of free negroes among them. 
Laws of this cliaracter, though far less stringent than similar laws 
existing in most of the adjacent slaveholding States, are disap- 
proved and lamented by the church members generally, it is 
believed, and by many other intelligent Indians, as unjust and 
op])ressive ; and they are not rigorously enforced. For these laws, 
however, neither the missionaries nor the members of the churches 
under their care regard themselves as responsible. They could 
have little or no influence to effect their repeal. Any direct inter- 
ference of the missionaries would, in their opinion, tend to delay, if 
not to prevent, rather than to hasten, the accomplishment of the 
end desired. Changes in these respects are to be brought about by 
the greater prevalence of humane and Christian feelings throughout 
these conmiunities ; and the agency of the missionary in effecting 
them is not to be like that which works out a political revolution, 
but that which results, by the divine blessing, in great moral 
changes in the hearts of individual men. 

" ' Slavery was introduced among these Indians, and has been 
regulated by them, in unhappy imitation of their white neighbors 
iu the adjacent States. Whether the Indians will be the first to 
abolish it, must depend very much on that power from above which 
shall attend the prevalence of Christian knowledge among them. 
Tliis consummation, which justice, humanity, and ('hristian prin- 
ciple demand should be hastened, none, the Committee believe, 
more fervently desire and pray for, than do the missionaries them- 
selves ; while yet the Committee believe, in agreement with the 
unanimous opinion of the missionaries, that any express directions 
from this Board requiring them to adopt a course of proceeding on 
this su!)ject essentially different from that which they have hitherto 
pursiu'd, would be fraught with disastrous consequences to the 
mission, to the Indians, and to the African race among them. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 47 

" ' That the missionaries among these Indians have been'faithful in 
their Avork seems evident, not only from their own statements, but 
also from the fact that the HoTy Spirit has most remarkably owned 
and blessed their labors ; the hopeful converts among the Choctaws 
being proportionally more numerous than those in any other mission 
connected with the Board, except tliat at the Sandwich Islands. 

" ' In the spirit and with the sentiments of one of our oldest 
missionaries, who has now spent more than twenty-five years in 
Christian labors among these Indians — and these are believed to be 
the sentiments and the spirit of all the missionaries — the Com- 
mittee would close their report. 

" ' I have,' he remarks, ' been more in the midst of the slavehold- 
ing population, and seen more of the pernicious effects of the system 
among tlie Indians, than some of my brethren. Viewed in all its 
bearings, it is a tremendous evil. Its destructive influence is seen 
on the morals of the master and the slave. It sweeps away those 
barriers which every civilized community has erected to protect the 
purity and chastity of the family relations. We also see its baneful 
effects on tlie rising generation. A great proportion of the red peo- 
ple, who own slaves, neglect entirely to train their children to 
habits of industry, enterprise and economy, so necessary in forming 
the character of the parent and the citizen. Slavery, so far as it 
extends, will ever present formidable obstacles to the right training 
of the rising generation. 

"'But what is to be done? Shall we desert our churches and 
schools, and send back those who compose them to the shades of 
moral darkness and death, because some among them own slaves 1 
Is not the Choctaw nation a part of that world into which Christ 
commanded his disciples to go and preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture 1 Can w^e expect the half-enlightened, halt-civilized Choctaws 
to proceed on this subject in advance of the white people in the 
States around them? or in advance of those churches in civilized 
and enlightened communities where slavery exists ? 

" ' There can be no prospect of benefitting the slave, in a slave 
country, without tlie consent of the owner. The only hope we can 
have of benefitting either the one or the other, is through the in- 
fluence of the Gospel ; and the Gospel, to be effectual, must be con- 
veyed in the spirit of meekness and love.' 

LEOXARD WOODS, 
BEXXET TYLER, 
REUBEX H. WALWORTH, 
THOMAS W. WILLIAMS, 
CALVIX E. STOWE, 
BEXJAMIX TAFPAX, 
DAVID SAXFORD, 
JAMES W. McLAXE, 
DAVID GREEXE.' 

" A motion having been made for the adoption of this report, a 
deeply interestinji; discussion ensued, Avhich continued through the 
afternoon and evening of Wednesday, and the forenoon of Thurs- 



48 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

(lay. J)iirln_f? the progress of this discussion, several amendments 
•vvJre proposed, which "were finally committed, together with the 
report it^ielf, and all the resolutions and memorials relating to the 
suDJect of slavery, presented to the Board during the session, to 
CMiiff Justice AVilliams, Dr. Bacon, Dr. Stowe, Dr. Tappan, Eev. 
David Greene, and Rev. John C. Webster. 

'' On the following day, this Committee made their report by 
recommending the adoption of the report of the previous Commit- 
ter without amendment. The report last made was accepted, and 
the question then arose upon the adoption of the former report. 
An amendment having been proposed to this report and rejected, 
the question Avas taken by yeas and nays, when the following per- 
sons voted in the affirmative : — 

" Theodore Frelinghuysen, Thomas S. Williams, Jeremiah Day, Thomas 
DcWitt, Thomas McAulcy, John Tappan, Henry Hill, Noah Porter Rufus 
Anderson, David Greene, Charles Stoddard, William J. Armstrong, Levi 
Cutter, Nehemiah Adams, Joel Hawes, Elisha Tale, Thomas H. Skinner, 
Ambrose White, Samuel Fletcher, David Magie, John W. Ellingwood, 
Charles Walker, Pelatiah Perit, Benjamin Tappan, AYilliam R. DeWitt, 
Isaac Ferris, Thomas W. Williams, William AV. Chester, Mark Hopkins, 
Reuben H. Walworth, Seth Terry, Daniel Dana, Zedekiah S. Barstow, 
William Darling, Edward W. Hooker, David Mack, William Page, Hora- 
tio Bardwell, Ebenezer Alden, Albert Barnes, William Jessup, Artemas 
Bui lard, Anson Gr. Phelps, Hiram H. Seelye, Aristarchus Champion, Samu- 
el II. Cox, Thomas Punderson, Alvan Bond, John AV. Adams, William T. 
Dwight, Leonard Bacon, Ansel D. Eddy, Joel Parker, J. Marshall Paul, 
Benjamin Labareo, Joseph Steele, Henry White, William Adams, Joel H. 
Lin.<ley, William AVisner, AYilliam Patton, William W. Stone, Edward 
Robinson, David L. Ogden, Benjamin C. Taylor, Walter Hubbell, Samuel 
U. Perkins, Asa T. Hopkins, Selah B. Treat, Linus Child, Henry B. 
Hooker, John Forsyth, Baxter Dickinson, Calvin E. Stowe . 

" As no person voted in the negative, the report was unani- 
mously adopted." — pp. 54-63. 

The conclusion to which this long report comes is that 
nothimj should he done in regard to the matter in question. 
The course of reasoning bj which it seeks to establish this 
conclusion is worthy of particular attention. 

The admissions of Dr. Woods and^his Committee respect- 
ing the vicious character and pernicio*us tendencies of slavery 
form so striking a contrast with their proposed acquiesceuce 
m Its continuance, not only in the nation, hut in the church, 
that I request the reader's especial attention to them. 

The Committee say that the slavcholding system is " a tre- 
mendous evil ;" that its efifects are "pernicious;" that "its 
destructive^ influence is seen on the morals of the master and 
the slave ; " that " it sweeps away those barriers which every 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 49 

civilized community has erected to protect the purity and 
chastity of the family relations ; " that " we also see its bane- 
ful effects on the rising generation ; " and that the abolition 
of it is a consummation "which justice, humanity, and Chris- 
tian principle demand should be hastened." 

Think of the enormity of arguments and exhortations, ad- 
dressed by a Committee of clergymen to a great missionary 
association, against interference with a system so bad that, 
by their own confession, it breaks down the barriers that 
have been found needful by mere worldly " civilization," to 
protect the purity and chastity of the family relations! 

The Committee confess the extent to which the Cherokee 
and Choctaw mission churches are implicated in this " bane- 
ful," "pernicious" and "destructive" system. The number 
of slaves held by both tribes is " probably not far from 
2,000;" while "fifteen" slaveholders are members of the 
Cherokee, and "twenty" slaveholders members of the Choc- 
taw, mission churches. 

The Committee also admit the systematic deliberation with 
which the missionaries had chosen to shelter this pernicious 
and destructive system in the church ; they admit that the 
missionaries are united in their policy upon this subject ; and 
they do not shrink from giving, as a specimen of that policy, 
the astonishing testimony of Mr. Byington, (of the Choctaw 
mission,) that they " give such instructions to masters and 
servants as are contained in the epistles, and yet not in a loay 
to give the subject a peculiar •prominence ; roii then it would 

SEEM TO BE PERSONAL." 

The Committee also admit that there were 500 slaves 
(more or less) in each of these nations at the time when the 
missionaries commenced their labors among them. These 
missionaries might then, if they had chosen, have opposed, 
from the berrinninor, this baneful, pernicious and destructive 
practice. They might have preached agauist it, and prnited 
tracts against it, and formed associations in opposition to it, 
just as they did against intemperance ! They had it perfectly 
in their power, at the very least, to keep those who practised 
it out of the church ! But they did not choose to do any one 
of these things ! And yet — 

The Committee represent, in spite of all these disgraceful 

3 



50 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

facts, that " the missionaries among these Indians have been 
faithful in their loork " / 

Faithful, in allowing a pernicious and destructive vice to 
go on without rebuke in the nation, in admitting determined 
j)raetitioners of it to membership in the church, and in re- 
iraining from admonition of these church members on the 
express ground that " it would seem to be personal"! Are 
these fair specimens of what the Prudential Committee send 
out for Christian ministers ? 

I3ut the evidence assigned by the report in question for 
considering these pro-slavery missionaries " faithful," is " the 
hopeful converts among the Choctaws being j^rojjortionally 
more numerous than those in any other mission connected 
with the Board, except that at the Sandwich Islands." 

If the standard of church character was so low among the 
Choctaws that continuance in pernicious and destructive vices 
did not interfere with membership, if "professors of religion" 
there might practise without rebuke something that justice, 
humanity and Christian principle demanded to be abolished, 
perhaps this would more plausibly account for the boasted 
proportional number of church members ! 

But another admission of this report is especially worthy 
of notice, since it directly contradicts ground taken by Dr. 
Woods, its writer, in his report, made in 1842, against those 
■who complained of the Board's complicity with slavery. He 
then said — 

" These evils, existing in the countries where the missions are 
operating, and standing directly in the way of the Board's accom- 
plishing its object, were, of com'se, legitimate and proper subjects 
for its animadversion. If it has at any time gone further than this, 
and expressed opinions relative to immoralities or evils of any kind, 
prevailing in this country, and not directly counteracting the labors 
ot the missionaries, your Committee regard such action as a depart- 
ure fi-om the great principles on which the Board was organized, 
and by which they think its proceedings should always be gov- 
erned."— p. 46, Ann. Rep. of 1842. 

The same person now tells us (p. 55, Ann. Kep. of 1845) 
that — "The evils of slavery will probably be met in some 
form, in nearly every part of the great missionary field "— 
and that — "Involuntary servitude is believed to pervade 
nearly the whole of the African continent, thouo-h with wide- 
ly diliereut degrees of severity. In some form^ it exists in 



IN KELATION TO SLAVERY. 51 

many, if not all parts of India. It pervades Siam, and 
nearly all Mohammedan communities; and it will probably 
be fomid, in some of its modifications, in China and Japan." 
The writer of this report proceeds, from this point, to 
make the following declaration respecting the moral charac- 
ter of slavery : — 

" The unrighteousness of the principles on which the whole sys- 
tem is based, and the violation of the natural rights of man, the 
debasement, wickedness, and misery it involves, and which are in 
fact witnessed, to a greater or less extent, wherever it exists, must 
call forth the hearty condemnation of all possessed of Christian feel- 
ing and sense of right, and make its entire and speedy removal an 
object of earnest and prayerful desire to every true friend of God 
and man." — p. 56. 

Is it not amazing that an acknowledo;ment like this should 
be the prelude to a recommendation to leave this " system " 
unopposed and undisturbed, in the very churches of the 
American Board ? And is it not still more amazing that 
this recommendation should be made by the same person who 
formerly sought to silence the protest of the Sandwich Islands 
missionaries against slavery, on the alleged ground (contra- 
dicted by the missionaries themselves) that it was an evil non- 
existent in the country where those missions were operating ? 

But we must not omit to notice that theory of the mission- 
ary function, and that asserted distinction between the legiti- 
mate province of the missionaries and of their employers, the 
Board, which Dr. Woods sets forth as the sufficient ground 
for a continued allowance of slaveholders in the Cherokee 
and Choctaw mission churches. 

The function of the missionaries is described in five specifi- 
cations, (ante, pp. 38, 39,) assuming that the missionaries arc 
the " rightful and exclusive judges " of what constitutes 
fitness for church membership. Whatever force this report 
has is derived from this statement. 

The manifest answer to it is, that when missionaries abuse 
and desecrate their office so grossly as to use their province 
of admitting church members in such a manner as to authen- 
ticate and uphold a pernicious and destructive system — one 
that injures the morals of all parties connected with it — one 
that sweeps away the barriers of purity and chastity in the 
family relations — one that produces baneful cflccts upon the 



52 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

risinrr o-eneration — one, the abolition of wliieli is demanded 
by justice, humanity and Cliristian principle — then it is the 
manifest duty of the employers of those missionaries to dis- 
charge them, and to send truly Christian men to supply their 
places ! 

The doctrine of the missionaries, agreed to by Dr. Woods 
and his Committee, is that while "a saving change of heart" is 
the sufficient reason for admission to church membership, this 
" saving change of heart " may exist just as really, and be 
manifested just as thoroughly, among persons united in, and 
persistently determined to uphold, the system of wickedness 
above described, as among any others ! If this be so, it will 
tend to show — not that slaveholding is right — but that the 
influence called " a saving change of heart" is not so good a 
thing as it has been assumed to be ; that, even if it does, as 
alleged, insure salvation in the next world, it does not make 
men and women much better in this world ! 

In this elaborate report by Dr. "Woods, as well as in former 
reports from the same pen, and in the general management 
of matters relating to slavery by the Prudential Committee, 
many indications are seen, not only of disingenuousness and 
sophistry, but of a deliberate attempt to deceive. An instance 
of this dishonesty is found in the conclusion of the following 
sentence, which the reader may see in its connection, p. 41 : — 

\ " In proceeding on these principles, the missions under the care 
of tliis Board, and the churches gathered by them, are no otherwise 
connected with slavery, than they are Avith every other evidence and 
result of imperfect moral renovation in their converts and cluirch 
members ; and ihe]j no more reallij (jive their sanction to the one than they 
do to all the others." 

I will take, for example, a single one of the "other" vices 
referred to, and, by showing the entirely different treatment 
it has received from the missionaries in this same station, and 
from the Board, show the utter falseness of this allegation re- 
specting the relation of these parties to slavery. 

Suppose it were asserted that the missionaries among the 
Chcrokees and Choctaws favored intemperance among Ihose 
nations, receiving habitual drunkards, indiscriminately with 
others, as church members; and that the Prudential Com- 
mittee allowed this, refusing, when requested, to instruct the 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 53 

missionaries to act differently. What would be said to these 
assertions ? 

It would be replied, and very justly, that every Annual 
Heport of the Board proved the falseness of these allegations. 
It would be shown by these Annual Reports, that the mis- 
sionaries had spontaneously commenced operations against 
intemperance very early in their residence among those na- 
tions ; that they had preached against it, formed societies 
against it, printed and distributed tracts against it, used 
special precautions against it in their admission of members 
to the church, and reported, from time to time, to the Pru- 
dential Committee the amount, and the measure of success 
or failure, of these efforts ; and that the Prudential Commit- 
tee had freely published these reports with the proceedings of 
the Board. 

How monstrous is it, then, to say, when the missionaries 
have done 7io one of these things against slavery, when they 
have neither preached, nor printed, nor formed societies, nor 
distributed tracts, nor made reports to the Prudential Com- 
mittee against it, but when, on the contrary, they have certi- 
fied the perpetrators of it to be Christians by freely admitting 
tlicm to the church, expressing, when inquired of, their deter- 
mination still to do so — and when the Prudential Committee 
have not only systematically permitted all this, but have resist- 
ed many and strong remonstrances, urging them to interfere 
with it, and have steadily declared, from beginning to end, that 
these missionaries have been "faithful," and "exemplary in 
the discharge o^ all their missionary duties" — how monstrous 
is it, after all this, to say, as Dr. Woods does, that the mis- 
sionaries and the Prudential Committee "no more really give 
their sanction " to slavery than to intemperance ! that they 
" are no otherwise connected with slavery " than they are 
with intemperance ! 

The truth is, that while they were connected with intem- 
perance (and some other vices) only so far as diligent and 
persistent effort on their part had failed to eradicate them, 
they were connected with slavery by consent, by choice, by 
system, by fraternal welcome, by deliberate justification, and 
thus did give their sanction to it, and are to be held responsi- 
ble for the guilt of it. 

Here is one of the questions in Dr. Woods's report, in 



54 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

which he seeks to defend the position of the Board by mis- 
representing the charge against it. He says — 

" Is this Board, tlien, in propagating the Gospel, to be held respon- 
sible for directly working out these reorganizations of the social sys- 
tem, without f/wing Christian truth time to produce its chanyes in the 
hearts of individuals and in public sentiment ? " 

Dr. Woods knew very well that nothing like this has been 
claimed. He knew that the charge was that, from the com- 
mencement of the Cherokee and Choctaw missions in 1817, 
to the year 1845, in which he wrote, the missionaries had 
systematically refrained from beginning the utterance of 
Christian truth upon the subject of slavery; that they had 
gone on allowing the practice of slaveholding to continue and 
increase, even among their church members, without remon- 
strance ; and that the Prudential Committee had gone on 
permitting this course of conduct, in spite of urgent remon- 
strances from Christians at home ! 

The concluding sentence of Dr. "Woods's report (I must 
pass over much other sophistry which needs comment) shows 
a similar attempt to throw dust in the eyes of his readers. 
He says — 

"There can be no prospect of benefitting the slave, in a slave 
country, without the consent of the owner. The only hope we can 
liave of benefitting cither the one or the other, is through the in- 
fluence of the Gospel; and the Gospel, to be efiectual, must be con- 
veyed in the spirit of meekness and love." 

Each of the members of this sentence is suited, and appa- 
rently intended, to mislead the unscrutinizing reader. 

Nobody had ever asked these missionaries to proceed 
against slavery in any other than in "the spirit of meek- 
ness and love." Nobody had ever intimated that they were 
to work otherwise than "through the influence of the Gospel." 
The charge against them was that they refused to apply this 
influence to the discouragement of slaveholding ! that they 
systematically refrained from publishing some parts of the 
Gospel to their slaveholding hearers! that they refused to 
" preach deliverance to the captives " ! that they purposely 
omitted to require their candidates for church membership to 
"set at liberty them that are bruised"! 

As to the declaration that — "There can be no prospect of 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 55 

benefitting the slave, in a slave country, without the consent 
of the owner" — Dr. Woods might as well say that there 
can be no prospect of benefitting the drunkard, in an intem- 
perate community, without the consent of the rum-seller. 
This allegation is not only erroneous in itself — its spirit is 
not only contradicted by the whole action of the missionaries 
against intemperance, which proceeded in spite of the bitter 
opposition of rum-sellers and distillers — but it is im-perti- 
nent, inappropriate to the case in hand ; inasmuch as the 
primary action proposed by the remonstrants in this case was 
not help to the slave, but -purification of the mission churches 
from the membership of slaveholders ! 

It will be observed that the report, containing all this 
sophistry and misrepresentation in behalf of the continuance 
of slaveholders in the mission churches, was " unanimously 
adopted " by the Board. 

We now come to the Annual Report for 1846. 

Further memorials on slavery were received at the Annual 
Meeting in this year, and were referred to a Committee 
which had also in charge certain memorials against polygamy 
in the mission churches. The report of this Committee upon 
both subjects, with the prefatory statement in the Annual 
Report, (pp. 72-4,) are as follows: — 

"MEMORIALS ON SLAVERY AND POLYGAMY. 

" Resolutions on the subject of slavery were received from the 
General Association of Congregationalists in Illinois, and from 
New Haven East Association ; also, a memorial and resolutions 
on the same subject from a missionary convention held in Dexter, 
Maine. These papers were referred to Chancellor Walworth, 
Dr. Robinson, Dr. Stowe, Dr. Tappan, Hon. Edmund Parker, 
Hon. Linus Child, and Rev. David Greene. 

" Four memorials were presented to the Board in relation to 
the subject of polygamy, in its supposed connection, now or here- 
tofore, with some of the mission churches. They were from Rev. 
Geornje W. Perkins and others ; from twenty -four ladies residing 
in Middletown and Meriden, Connecticut ; the Gentlemen's For- 
cio;n Missionary Association in Canton, Connecticut; and Rev. 
William W. Patton and others. These memorials having been 
read, Mr. Greene made a full statement of the facts in the case, 
after which the memorials were referred to the Committee on the 
subject of slavery. This Committee subsequently made their 
report. During the discussion which arose on its adoption, Rev. 



56 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

Gcorn-p W. Torkins ofTered an amendment to the same; after 
'vvliich Dr. Goodrich moved to postpone both the report and the 
niiK-ndment, for the purpose of receiving a substitute for so much 
of the report as rebates to the subject of polygamy. The report, 
■with the proposed amendment and substitute, was finally referred 
to Chancellor Walworth, Dr. Goodrich and Dr. Humphrey. 
This Committee subsequently made a report, which is as follows : 

" ' The Committee to whom were referred several memorials and 
resolutions on the subject of slavery, and also the various memorials 
relative to cases of polygamy which are supposed to exist in some 
of the churches under tlie ecclesiastical care of the missionaries of 
this Board, respectfully report : That in reference to the subject of 
slavery generally, or in its connection with some of our missionary 
churches, nothing has occurred during the past year to induce your 
Committee to suppose this Board should depart from the principles 
of the elaborate report, sanctioned by two successive Committees ; 
and which report, after being fully discussed, was adopted, with 
such entire unanimity, by all the members of the Board present, at 
the annual meeting in 1845. Your Committee, therefore, consider 
furdier agitation of the subject here as calculated injuriously to 
affect the great cause of missions in which this Board is engaged, 
and for the promotion of which alone the society was instituted, 

" ' In reference to the supposed existence of cases of polygamy in 
our mission churches, and the erroneous supposition that the same 
has been sanctioned by this Board or its olRcers, your Committee 
state that neither the Board nor its Prudential Committee have 
taken any action, or even expressed an opinion, in favor of receiving 
a ])o]ygamist into a church under the care of any of our mission- 
aries. So far as your Committee have been able to obtain informa- 
tion on the subject, the missionaries of the Board, although many of 
them are located in countries where polygamy is recognized and 
sanctioned by law, have had occasion but in four instances to act 
upon the question of the admission of a polygamist to church fel- 
lowship; and these were all cases of persons who, previous to their 
conversion from heathenism, and before they had any knowledge of 
the doctrines and precepts of the Christian system, bad become the 
legal husbands of a plurality of wives. In one of those cases, it is 
known that the missionaries at the station where the application was 
made, refused to admit the applicant to the church. In two others 
of those cases, your Committee are not informed as to the result of 
the applications. But as the missionaries who had the pastoral care 
of the churches to which these requests for admission were made 
arc known to have been opposed to the admission to church fellow- 
ship of persons standing in that relation, your Committee have no 
reason to suppose that either of the applicants was received as a 
member of tlie church. The fourth case occurred about twenty 
years since, and in respect to an individual who has been dead from 
twelve to fifteen years. The person alluded to was an aged man, 
who, at the time of his conversion from heathenism to Christianity, 
was the husband of two wives, both of whom desired to live with 
hmi, and, according to the usages of his nation, had equal claims 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 57 

upon him for protGCtiou and support. Under those circumstances, 
the missionaries at that station tliought it right to receive liim into 
the church. He was accordingly received by them, and continued 
in church felloAvship until his death. This, as tar as your Commit- 
tee have any definite information, is the only person having more 
than one wife who has ever been received into our mission cliurches. 
And they have no reason to suppose tliat any person in that situa- 
tion is noAV in connection with those churches. 

" ' The principles upon which our missionaries are expected to 
act in dealing with questions of that nature were fully stated in the 
report of 1845, to which your Committee have befoi^e referred. It 
is unnecessary to say that this Board and its missionaries and 
patrons unite in the sentiment of all who bear the Christian name, 
that the practice of polygamy is hostile to the interests of the 
human race, and diametrically opposed to the spirit of the Christian 
religion. Nor can there be any difference of opinion among 
Christians as to the absolute impropriety, under any circumstances, 
of permitting church members to marry a second wife during the 
life of the first, except in cases of legal divorce. And in respect to 
converts from heathenism in a state of polygamy, this Board expect 
its missionaries, in considering the question of admission to the 
church, to carry out the principles of the Gospel in their full extent. 
If any such cases should arise, your Committee think this Board 
may confide in the piety, learning and sound judgment of ^ its 
missionaries abroad, and' in their general competence to decide, 
upon scriptural grounds, these questions and others of a similar 
character which may arise in the course of their labors, without 
requiring its Prudential Committee to assume the very questionable 
power of giving more specific directions, which might be considered 
an infringement of the religious liberty of the ministers and mem- 
bers of our mission churches. Your Committee therefore see 
nothing in the subject of these memorials requiring the further 
action of the Board at this time.' 

" This report was adopted by the Board.' 

It is to be observed, that the paragraph at the commence- 
ment of this report, which coolly dismisses the memorialists 
without either consideration of their requests or action upon 
them, not only refers to the sophistical and deceptive report 
of Dr. Woods in 1845, as perfectly satisfactory, but depre- 
cates "further agitation of the subject" of slavery as "in- 
jurious." 

In the Annual Report for 1847, the only direct action 
respecting slavery is found in a brief statement on p. 59, as 
follows: — 

" RESOLUTION ON SLAVERY. 

" President Blanchard offered a resolution, ' that a Committee 
be appointed to inquire and report to this body whether any fur- 
3* 



58 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

tLer action is required of this Board in reference to our relations 
to slavery in the Cherokee and Choctaw missions ; and, if so, to 
propose such action as they may judge best.' This resolution was 
referred to the Business Committee, who subsequently reported as 
follows : — 

" * The Business Committee, to whom was referred the resolution 
for the appointment of a Committee upon the subject of slavery in 
the mission churches in the Cherokee and Choctaw nations, report, 
that it is inexpedient that the attention of tlie Board sliould be 
occupied with the discussion of that subject at its present meeting. 
Mr. Greene, the Secretary who has charge of the Indian corre- 
spondence, and who alone is in possession of the facts to give the 
necessary explanations to the Board or to a Committee, is detained 
by ill health from attending this meeting ; so that, if any further 
action on this subject should be deemed pi^oper, it cannot be had at 
this time. This Committee are also informed that it is the intention 
of the Prudential Committee to allow Mr. Greene to visit these 
missions previously to the next annual meeting; and if so, he will 
be prepared to give all the necessary explanations which may then 
be required in relation to the actual state of those missionary 
churches.' 

" The report was adopted by the Board." 

I have said that the above was the only direct action 
respecting slavery in the Annual Meeting of 1847.. Sub- 
gequentl^ however, to the adoption of this report, the fol- 
lowing innocent-looking resolution was passed, which, judging 
by the magnitude of its results in the next Annual Bcport, 
seems to have been designed to introduce another elaborate 
piece of sophistry, in the hope of staving off the dreaded 
" agitation " : — 

"Resolved, That the Prudential Committee be requested to 
present a written report, at the next annual meeting, on the nature 
and extent of the control wliich is to be exercised over the mission- 
aries under the care of the Board, and the moral responsibility of 
the Board for the nature of the teaching of the missionaries and 
character of the churches."— p. 61. 

In that portion of the Annual Report for 1848 which 
speaks of the Cherokee and Choctaw missions, the Prudential 
Committee seek to help their policy of discouraging " agita- 
tion" about slavery among their patrons, by glowing rep- 
resentations of the satisfactory spiritual state of these slave- 
holding tribes. They say — 

Chloliwf .l"f p7 ''\ ^^^ ^^°'& ^f this Board to christianize the 
Lhoctaws and Cherokees, we find much to awaken the liveliest 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 59 

gratitude to God. The Lord has done great things for us. If the 
Gospel has not accomplished all for these people, in their civil and 
social relations, which the friends of the Redeemer among us could 
desire, very happy results have heen secured. For twenty years 
past, the spirit of grace has been almost continually descending, 
especially upon the Choctaws. We find evidence of this, not only 
in the organization of churches, and frequent additions to them of 
hopeful converts, but also in the general advance made in the arts 
and comforts of civilized life." — p. 62, 

With still greater hardihood, Mr. Secretary Treat, in the 
same year, represented the increased number of slaves in the 
Cherokee and Choctaw nations, and the general preference 
there felt for investing money in this " species of property," 
as one of the results of " the doctrines of the Gospel having 
exerted their appropriate influence." [Missionary Her aid j 
the official organ of the A. B. C. F. M., October, 1848, p. 
349.] 

Immediately following the above-quoted eulogy of the 
Prudential Committee on the Choctaw and Cherokee slave- 
holders, in the Annual Report of 1848, comes their special 
report, ordered the previous year, on the " control of 
missionaries and mission churches." This document, occupy- 
ing eighteen closely printed octavo pages, is signed by the 
three Secretaries. In spite of the general aspect appearing 
in it, and in the resolution calling for it in 1847, the pre- 
ceding and following circumstances seem clearly to show that 
the one great object of this document was to persuade the 
remonstrants against slavery that its continued allowance in 
the mission churches was both right and unavoidable, and 
thus to stop the further " agitation" of that subject. Not- 
withstanding the great length of this report, and of the 
correspondence with the Cherokee and Choctaw missions 
immediately following, they are given entire in this volume, 
like all the other documents quoted from the Annual Reports. 
Only thus could the reader learn how extensively sophistry 
and misrepresentation have used the dialect of piety in 
defence of slavery. The italics are those of the report. 

The report in question occupies pp. 62-80 of the Annual 
Report of 1848, as follows : — 

" COXTROL OF MISSIONARIES AND MISSION CnURCHES. 

" At the meeting of the Board held in Buffalo, 1847, the Pru- 
dential Committee were requested to submit a written report, at 



GO THE AMERICAN BOARD 

the next annual meeting, on the nature and extent of the control 
to be exercised over missionaries, and the responsibility of the 
IJoard for their instructions, as also for the character of the 
churches. This was presented to the Board accordingly ,_ at an 
early stage of the meeting ; but as the members had not time to 
«rive the subject that considerate attention which its importance 
demanded, the final disposition of the same was postponed, after 
a single amendment had been adopted, to the next annual meet- 
ing, the Committee being authorized to print the report as amend- 
eci, with such modifications as might seem desirable. This doc- 
ument, as thus amended and modified, is as follows : — 

" ' The Board adopted the following Resolution at its last Annual 
Meeting, viz. : — " That the Prudential Committee be requested to 
])resent a written report, at the next annual meeting, on the nature 
and extent of the control which is to be exercised over the mission- 
aries under the care of the Board ; and the moral responsibility of 
the Board for the nature of the teaching of the missionaries, and for 
the character of the churches." The Prudential Committee have 
attended to this duty, and present the following Iveport. 

" ' It will be seen that this call upon the Prudential Committee 
involves a discussion of the whole working of the system of Foreign 
Missions. We must determine the ecclesiastical standing and liberty 
of missionaries, and of the churches they gather among tlie heathen ; 
inquire whether ecclesiastical liberty be not as safe for missionaries 
abroad as for pastors at home, and wlicther missionaries and pastors 
are not in fact controlled by similar means and intluences ; show in 
what manner missionaries are obtained, what are the nature and 
force of their voluntary engagements, what are the powers and 
responsibilidcs of the Board, and what is the actual extent of the 
claims of missionaries upon the Board and upon the churches. This 
will exhibit the working of the principle of voluntary association in 
missions, involving, as the main reliance, influences that bear di- 
rectly on the reason, judgment, and heart ; and a brief mention must 
be nuule of the more important of these influences. The Prudential 
Coniinittee will also be expected to show the adaptation of the con- 
stitution of the Board to its various trusts and duties. In respect to 
the native mission churches, the inquiry will arise, how far they 
ought to be independent of the jurisdiction of all bodies of men in 
this country ; how they are to be trained to self-support and self- 
povernment ; what expectations it is reasonable to cherish concern- 
mi;- them ; and what are the responsibilities of the Board for the 
tcaclnng of the missionaries, and for the character of the mission 
churches. 

I. 

"'THE MISSIONARIES. 

'"1. THE ECCLESIASTICAL LIBEKTY BELOXGINCx TO MISSIONARIES. 

'"The Board affirmed at Brooklyn, in the vear 1845, that "the 
nnssionancs actmg under the commission of Christ, and with the 
instructions of the New Testament before them, are themselves at 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 61 

first, and subsequently in connection with the churclies they have 
gathered, the rightful and exclusive judges of what constitutes ade- 
quate evidence of piety and fitness for church-fellowship in professed 
converts." 

" ' It was doubtless intended, by this declaration, to recognize the 
missionaries under the care of the Board as entitled to equal liberty, 
in all ecclesiastical matters, with ministers at home. They certainly 
are equally the ministers, messengers, and ambassadors of Christ ; 
they equally receive from him their call, commission, ofiice, and work. 
As a hodi/, they sustain to the churches at home a relation equally as 
close as do the bodt/ of the pastors. The several Christian denomina- 
tions acting through the Board have, in all practicable ways, given 
to the missionaries it has sent forth their countenance, sanction, and 
adoption. " These missionaries," saj^s a standard work on the Con- 
stitution of the Congregational Churches, "may justly be considered 
as sent abroad by the churches, inasmuch as they are supported by 
their contributions, attended by their prayers, and protected by their 
constant solicitude. It is true that the immediate agents, in design- 
ing and arranging their departure, are Missionary Societies ; but 
these Societies, when the s;ibject is rightly considered, are only the 
agents and representatives of the churches."* It should be added, 
that the missionaries are ordained to their office, as really as pastors, 
and by the direct representatives of the churches, and with the same 
formalities, and almost always with the knowledge that they are to 
be sent forth and directed by the Board. In this manner, the Board 
itself has been recognized by the churches and accredited as an 
Agent in the work of foreign missions ; as it has been, also, by reso- 
hitions and other formal acts of General Associations, Synods, and 
General Assemblies, and by thousands of collections in aid of its 
funds made in the house of God on the Sabbath, and at other times 
and places, with the concurrence of pastors and churches. 

" ' The denial that a missionar}^ is an office-bearer until a Christian 
church has invited him to take the oversight of it in the Lord, is 
made in utter forgetfulness, as it Avould seem, of the commission by 
which a preaching ministry was originally instituted. The primary 
and preeminent design of that commission was to create the missiun- 
art/ office, and to perpetuate it till the Gospel should have been 
preached to every creature. 

" ' It is not claimed for missionaries that they are Apostles, since 
they have not the " signs of an Apostle," and since the apostolical 
office was not successive and comnmnicable to others. That office 
was extraordinary, in the range both of its objects and its powers, 
and the Apostles can have no proper successors. Missionaries are 
Evangelists. They do the Avork of Evangelists ; and such they are, 
as Timothy and Titus were in the primitive missions, and as Euse- 
bius says many were in the second century. " These," says that 
historian, " having merely laid the foundations of the faith, and 
ordained other pastors, committed to them the cultivation of the 
churclies newly planted ; while they themselves, supported by the 
grace and cooperation of God, proceeded to other countries and na- 

* Uphain's Eatio Digciplina), p. 128. 



(32 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

tions." The method of conducting missions has, indeed, been con- 
siderably modified by the altered condition of the world, rendering 
it possible to send forth a far greater number of missionaries than in 
ancient times, and to augment their value as instruments, and to ac- 
celerate what mav be called national conversions, by sending mis- 
sionaries forth in the family state, and making their labor less itin- 
erant and transitory than in early times ; but the true relation of 
missionaries to the churches at home, and to the heathen world, 
appears to be that of Evangelists. 

" ' Considering the weakness and waywardness so generally found 
in men just emerging from heathenism, native pastors must, for a 
time, and in certain respects, bo practically subordinate to the mis- 
sionaries, by whom their churches were formed, and through whom, 
it may be, they are themselves partially supported. Tliis is true, 
also, of the mission churches ; as will be explained in another part 
of this report. Should a practical parity, in all respects, be insisted 
on between the missionaries and the native pastors, in the early 
periods when every thing is in a forming state, it is not seen how the 
native ministry can be trained to system and order, and enabled to 
stand alone, or even to stand at all. As with ungoverned children, 
self-sufficiency, impatience of restraint, jealousy, and other hurtful 
passions will be developed. The native pastors themselves are, for 
a season, but " babes in Christ," children in experience, knowledge 
and character. And hence missionaries, who entertain the idea that 
ordination must have the effect to place the native pastors at once on 
a perfect equality with themselves, are often backward in intrusting 
the responsibilities of the pastoral office to natives. They fear, and 
justly, the effects of this sudden comparative exaltation ; especially 
Avhen aggravated by ordination formalities multiplied and magnified 
beyond the scriptural precedents ; involving a convocation of minis- 
ters and people, an ordination sermon, a formal charge, perhaps a 
right-hand of fellowship, and possibly an address setting forth the 
importance of the occasion, in place of the simple laying on of hands 
and prayer, as in the apostohcal ordinations. All this may be well 
in old Christian communities ; but whatever advantages it is sup- 
posed to have among the heathen, these are thought to be over- 
balanced by its tendency to inflame the self-conceit and ambition 
remaining in the heart of the heathen convert, however carefully lie 
may have been educated in the doctrines and duties of Christianity. 
"\Ve scarcely need any great amount of experience, indeed, when our 
thoughts are once turned to the subject, to see that there is wisdom 
in the apostolical view of the pastoral office in mission churches, and 
in their mode of bringing forward a native ministry and training it 
for independent action. 

_ " ' It must be obvious, that the view just taken of this subject 
involves no danger to the future parity of the native ministrv, con- 
sidered in their relations to each other ; for, in the nature of tilings, 
the missionary office is scarcely more successive and communicable 
to the native pastors, than was the apostolical office to Evangelists. 

-The point specially insisted on is this, —that ministers of the 
tiospel lose none of their ecclesiastical standing and liberty by en- 
gaging in the work of foreign missions. No plea for abridging their 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 



63 



ecclesiastical liberties can be founded on the fact of their support 
coming from the churches at home ; because the obligation of the 
churches to support missionaries rests on precisely the same basis 
■with the obligation of missionaries to become such. Both the ser- 
vice and the support are to be rendered as a duty owed to Christ. 
The one is no more voluntary, no more optional, no more a work of 
supererogation, than the other. Missionaries are no more objects of 
charity, or beneficiaries, than are pastors at home. Their labors as 
truly entitle them to a support from some quarter. When the real- 
ity of the missionary's call from the Head of the Church to go on a 
mission has been settled by competent and acknowledged testimony, 
an obligation arises and exists somewhere to send him forth and sup- 
port him. And after he has gone into the field, he can no more 
properly be starved out of his appropriate liberty by those to whom 
he looks for support, than he can be legislated out of it by those who 
direct his labors. Nor do missionaries become, in any servile sense, 
the servants of those who support them; they are not their hired 
servants, but their fellow-servants. Christ is their common spiritual 
Head, and he sends his missionaries forth a free ministry. And the 
Board seeks to accommodate itself to this principle in Christ's king- 
dom. " With great care, it seeks out competent men as missionaries 
and worthy of confidence, and then sends them out under the broad 
commission of the great Head of the Church, to preach the Gospel to 
every creature; themselves free, to propagate a free Christianity in 
the field of their labors. With a scrupulous regard for the rights of 
the missionaries in this particular, it places them among the perish- 
ing heathen, to gather as many as possible into the fold of Christ, 
and there leaves them, in the free and untrammeled exercise of their 
own judgment, under a due sense of accountability to Christ, to 
decide on the spot, in each particular case as it occurs, what is suf- 
ficient evidence of genuine conversion, and what is the proper and 
sufficient groimd for the admission of the heathen convert to the 
privileges of the Christian Church."* 

" ' When the Committee come to treat of the checks and influences 
under which missionaries operate, it will be seen that this degree of 
liberty is compatible with as perfect a responsibility as is attainable 
in the present state of human nature and of the world. But it is 
important to remark here, that this responsibility can never be per- 
fectly enforced, except by guarding the religious liberties of mission- 
aries with the most scrupulous care. Men must be free, and must 
feel that they are free, in order to rise to the full capacity and dig- 
nity of moral agents, and be subjected to the full control of law, 
reason, and the moral sense. And, of all Gospel ministers, the mis- 
sionary among the heathen most needs to have his mind and spirit 
erect, and to feel that all good men are his brethren. This is neces- 
sary to the unity, peace, order and efficiency of every mission. 
The law of liberty is an all-pervading law in Christ's kingdom. 

"*2. HOW^ THE KESPOXSIBILITY OF MISSIONARIES IS SECURED. 

" ' So far as the Committee can rely on the experience of more 
than thirty years, they regard it as not less safe to concede ecclesi- 

* Prof. William Smyth, of Bowdoin College. 



64 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

astical liberty to missionaries than to pastors. And how eminently 
safe it has been at home, the last two centuries can testify. In each 
of the denominations of Christians represented in this Board, the 
understanding, conscience and heart of ministers is supposed to 
operate with equal freedom in the performance of their spiritual 
duties ; and it is the prevalent belief, in each of these denommations, 
that tins hberty could not be advantageously diminished. 

" ' What the Prudential Committee are to show is this : — Tliat 
foreign missionaries are subjected to similar controllin<j injiucnces with 
pastors at home. These influences are exerted in the selection of 
missionaries ; in their voluntary engagements ; in the terms of their 
pecuniary support ; in their mutual watchfulness over each other; 
and in the direct influence of truth upon their minds and hearts. 

" ' 1. Missionaries are, in an important sense, selected for the 
work, and it thus comes to pass that they have, as a body, a trust- 
worthy character. 

"'The Board does not, indeed, extend a "call" to them, as 
churches do to those whom they would have for their pastors. This 
has sometimes been recommended, as preferable to the course now 
pursued. But few missionaries would be obtained in this way. 
The missionary spirit has not yet strong hold enough upon the 
churches, or upon the colleges and theological seminaries, for the 
adoption of such a plan. Were the responsibility to be thus taken 
from students and candidates for the ministry, and assumed by mis- 
sionary institutions, the young men in our theological schools would 
seldom be found in a state of mind or in circumstances to give an 
affirmative answer to a " call," by the time their characters and 
qualifications should have been sufliciently developed to warrant 
one. It is found to be better to lay the case before all, and leave 
the result to the providence and grace of God. Consecration to the 
foreign missionary work for life involves a somewhat peculiar expe- 
rience of its own ; and the earlier and more thoroughly that expe- 
rience is wrought in the soul, the better is the i)rospect of continu- 
ance and usefulness in the work of missions. 

" ' The Committee have been accustomed, generally, to wait for 
written offers from the candidates to go as missionaries under the 
direction of the Board, These are usually made some time before 
the theological course of studies is completed, and are commonly 
preceded by personal conferences or an informal correspondence 
with the Secretaries. The offer is accompanied by testimonials 
from pastors, instructors in colleges and seminaries, and others. If 
the testimony be decisive and satisfactory, the individual is invited 
to visit the Missionary House in Boston. This arrangement is found 
useful and satisfactory to all parties. There is now, if there has 
not been before, a free conference with him as to his religious princi- 
ples and experience, his social relations, his motives in choosing the 
missionary work, his adaptations and preferences with respect to a 
field of labor, and whatever else is important in determining the 
question of his appointment and designation. Should it now appear 
to be the candidate's duty not to engage in a foreign mission, it is 
generally easy to convince him of the fact, and his case does not 
proceed to any formal action on the part of the Committee. Where 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 



65 



the tlutj to go is clear, an appointment follows. The candidate next 
seeks ordination, at his discretion, from some ecclesiastical body ; 
"which body subjects him to as thorough an examination as if he 
were to settle as a pastor. He is not taken on trust from the Board, 
but his call to the missionary work is brought under a renewed 
investigation. 

" 'It is believed that the missionaries laboring in connection with 
this Board are equal, as to ministerial qualifications and character, 
to the body of pastors in either denomination represented in the 
Board, in any one of the States of the Union ; and this fact is evi- 
dently one of great importance, in an inquiry as to the possibility of 
exerting a reasonable control over their proceedings. 

" ' 2. Missionaries come voluntarily under similar engagements 
with pastors at home. 

" ' The pastor's engagements are made to his church and people, 
to the body that ordains him, and, through that body, to the 
churches ; in addition to his solemn and well-understood vows to 
his Lord and Master. The missionary's engagements are to the 
Board, acting in the way of a general superintendence over his pro- 
ceedings as a missionary, and to the ordaining body, and, through 
those bodies, to the community from which he is to derive his sup- 
port ; and he also makes explicit vows to his divine Master. 

" ' The missionary engages, on accepting his appointment, to con- 
form to the rules and regulations of the Board, the nature of which 
he is supposed distinctly to understand. He thus pledges himself, 
among other things, to be governed by the majority of votes in his 
mission, in regard to all questions that arise in their proceedings ; 
the proceedings being subject to the revision of the Prudential Com- 
mittee. He comes, moreover, under certain other distinct and well- 
understood pledges: — (1.) As to his 7n(vi)icr of life; which is to be 
cue of exemplary piety and devotion to his Avork. (2.) As to his 
teaching ; which must be conformed to the evangelical docrines gen- 
erally received by the churches, and set forth in their well-known 
Confessions of Faith. And (3.) As to ecclesiastical usages; to which 
he must conform substantially as they prevail among the churches 
operating. through the Board. He must hold to a parity among the 
clerical brethren of his mission. He must hold to the validity of 
infant baptism. He must admit only such to the Lord's Supper as 
give credible evidence of faith in Christ. So far as his relation to 
the Board and his standing in the mission are concerned, he is of 
course not pledged to conform his proceedings to any other book of 
discipline than the New Testament. 

" ' 3. The missionary's claim for continued support, like that of 
the pastor, depends upon his fulfilling his engagements. 

" ' Unless faithful to these engagements, the missionary cannot 
claim a continuance of his support. And the Board not only may, 
but it must, insist on his performance of them. It is bound to 
know that the missionary preaches the Gospel and administers the 
ordinances according to his expressed and implied jjledges ; which 
of course he must do, or retire from his connection. 

" ' The responsibilities and powers of the Board, in this aspect of 
the case, are easily defined. While it cannot depose a missionary 



GO THE AMERICAN BOARD 

from the ministry, nor silence him as a preacher, nor cut him off 
from the church, it can dissolve what it formed, namely, his connec- 
tion with itself and with the mission. While the Board may not 
c'stalilis!; new principles in matters purely ecclesiastical, it may en- 
force the observance of such as are generally acknowledged by the 
churches, and were understood to be acknowledged by the missiona- 
ries when sent to their fields. While the Board may not require 
that baptism shall always be performed by sprinkling, nor forbid 
that the Lord's Supper shall be administered to converts after they 
have given what the missionaries believe to be credible and satisfac- 
tory evidence of piety ; it may require, (for such are the established 
and acknowledged usages,) that he receive none into the church, 
except such as are believed to be truly pious persons ; that he bap- 
tize in the name of the Father, the Sou, and the Holy Ghost ; and 
that he do not refuse baptism to the infant children of the church. 

" ' Where the opinions of the great body of its patrons are divided 
in regard to the facts of Scripture, the Board may not undertake to 
decide, positively, as to the nature of those facts, with a view to 
binding the conduct of its missionaries. Such a fact, at present, is 
the admission of slaveholders into the apostolical churches. The 
Board may not undertake to decide, that this class of persons was 
certainly admitted to church membership by the Apostles, nor that 
they were excluded, in such a way as to hav^e the etfect on the mis- 
sionaries of a statute, injunction, or Scripture doctrine, in respect to 
the admission of such persons into churches now to be gathered in 
heathen nations where slavery is found. The Board, the Pruden- 
tial Committee, and the Secretaries may have their opinions on 
tliis subject, as well as on all others, and (as will be stated more 
fully hereafter) may freely express those opinions in their corre- 
spondence with the missionaries, and ought to do so, if they see 
occasion, with such reasonings, persuasions and remonstrances as 
they may think proper. But they cannot properly go farther. Nor 
can the Jioard assume, as the basis of any of its proceedings, or im- 
ply in any manner, that the apostolical usages are not the wisest 
and best for all modern missionaries to foltow, who are similarly 
situated with the Apostles. Nor can it do any thing in direct and 
luanifest contrariety to the great Protestant maxim, on which our 
own religious liberties depend, that the Scriptures are the only and 
the SUFFICIENT rule of faith and practice. 

" ' On the other hand, if it was an usage of the Apostles to give 
definite aud positive instructions to the holders of slaves as to their 
treatment of them — instructions which had a tendency to do away 
the institution — and if such instructions are found in their Epistles, 
tlien modern missionaries may be expected to conform to that usage, 
and to give the same instructions in like circumstances ; though the 
time and manner of doing this must be referred, in great measure, 
to their own discretion, as with ministers at home, in respect to the 
direct inculcation of specific duties. The successful inculcation of 
such duties pre-supposes a certain amount of doctrinal knowledge 
in those who are to be operated upon, as well as of moral suscepti- 
bility, and also a due adaptation in the instructions to time, place, 
and circumstances. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 67 

" ' But while the Board may require that the missionaries under 
its care instruct all classes of men after the manner of the Apostles, 
it is not at liberty to restrict the missionaries to the identical instruc- 
tions given by the Apostles ; because there is no good reason to 
suppose that all the instructions are recorded in the New Testa- 
ment which the Apostles were accustomed to give. Missionaries 
may go farther, if their convictions of duty require it, and may 
apply what they regard as the obvious and generally conceded prin- 
ciples of the Gospel to the case. They have the same liberty, in 
their preaching, with ministers of the Gospel elsewhere. 'P]^'y 
ma}^ instruct fheir converts, among other things, on the Christian 
duty of fully conceding the right of marriage to the slaves ; of not 
holding them as property ; of sacredly respecting the relation be- 
tween husbands and wives, and between parents and children ; and 
of securing to all the right of worshipping God, and of reading his 
Holy Word. And the Committee have no hesitation in urging the 
duty of such instruction upon their brethren among the heathen ; 
with the plain inculcation, in the prosecution of their ministry, of 
whatever obligation grows out of the fundamental law of love, as 
given by the Lord Jesus Christ, " Whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them; " — it being understood 
that the missionaries are to have the liberty of exercising their dis- 
cretion as to time and manner. 

" ' Xor have the Connnittee any hesitancy in saying that, since 
the Gospel was so preached by the Apostles as ultimately to root 
out the most extensive and terrible system of slavery the world has 
ever seen, so ouglit missionaries now, in times and ways within the 
range of their own discretion, so to hold up the doctrines, duties 
and" spirit of the Gospef, that it shall have the same beneficeut ten- 
dency on the social condition of the heathen. 

" 'A writer of unquestioned opposition to slavery, to whose dis- 
criminating pen the Board is indebted, has justly renuirked, that it 
would seem to be within the discretion of a missionary in a slave- 
liolding community, whether he will attack slavery directly, and by 
name, or "whether he will strike at some one or more of the things 
which enter essentially into it, and the wrong of which can, in the 
actual circumstances of that community, be set home Avith con- 
vincing power upon the conscience of the slaveholder."* 

" ' Slavery is, indeed, at variance with the principles of the Chris- 
tian religion, and must disappear in any community, in proportion 
as the Gospel gains upon the understandings and the hearts of men. 
But the Board and its missionaries are restricted to moral means, 
and these must have time and opportunity to exert their appropriate 
influence. Missionaries should be employed who dcsrrve confidence, 
and then confidence should be reposed in them ; nor should residts be 
required which are beyond the power of their labors to i)roduce. 
Many things which, at first, it might seem desirable for the Board to 
do, are found, on a nearer view, to lie entirely beyond its jurisdiction ; 
so that to attemi)t them Avould be useless, nay, a ruinous usuri)ation. 
Nor is the Board at liberty to withdraw its confidence from niis- 

* Prof. Smyth. 



G8 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

pionarics, hccnnse of such differences of opinion among them as are 
uiiicrallv found and freely tolerated in presbyteries, councils, asso- 
ciationsfand other bodies here at home. 

" ' Polygamy stands on a somewhat different footing from that of 
Slavery. Little difficulty is apprehended from it in gathering native 
churches. The evidence that polygamists were admitted into the 
church by the Apostles is extensively and increasingly regarded as 
inconclusive, by the patrons of the Board. We no where find in- 
structions given in the New Testament to persons holding this rela- 
tion. Nor is there evidence of the practice having existed in any of 
tlie churches subsequent to the apostolical age. The Committee 
believe, that no positive action by the Board in relation to this sub- 
ject is needed, or expedient. Unsustained as the practice is by any 
certain precedents in the apostolical churches, and unauthorized by 
a single inspired injunction, the native convert will rarely be able to 
prove the reality of his piety, should he persist in clinging to it, or 
refuse to provide for the education of his children, or for the support 
of their mothers, (when they need such provision,) if he may not 
be permitted to regard the mothers as his wives. 

" * Should the missionaiy violate his compact in respect to the 
character or amount of his preaching and teaching ; or in respect to 
the administration of the ordinances of the Gospel ; or by refusing 
to conform to the resolutions of his mission, or of the Prudential 
Committee, or of the Board, or in an}^ other manner, the Prudential 
Committee, on being certified of the fact, is in duty bound to con- 
sider and act on the bearing this ought to have on his relations to 
the Board, and his claim for a continued support. 

" ' This claim for support, so far as it applies to the Board, is un- 
derstood to be only for an equitable proportion of the sum-total of 
funds actually placed at the disposal of the Board, for the expenses 
of the year. The Board can divide only what it receives. The 
missionary goes forth trusting in God that there will always be 
enough for his Avants. He cheerfully incurs the risk, whatever it 
may be, and which past experience of God's goodness shows to be 
small. And he does this the more cheerfully, because his work is 
so eminently a work of faith. Mere pledges for his support from 
churches and ecclesiastical bodies are too delusive to be depended on. 
It is only to a small extent that pledges can be obtained from indi- 
vidual Christians, and even the precise import and obligation of 
these are apt to be forgotten by those who give them. Nor are the 
formal pledges of support given to the Board worth any thing, except 
so lar as they represent the deep-seated missionary principles and 
sentiments of the Christian community. There is, indeed, no firm 
footing for the missionary, except in the promises of his Lord and 
Master. Paith in Christ is the basis of his enterprise. It is so in 
respect to himself, his children, his work, and the desired results of 
all his sacrifices and labors, — preeminently so, compared with that 
of the pastor at home. And herein lies the special dignity of his 
calling. Ilc! goes on his mission in the discharge of his own personal 
duty, because he believes his Lord and Savior requires him to go as 
his servant and ambassador. If he have a proper view of his mission, 
he would regard it as lowering the work immeasurably, to bring in 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 



69 



the churches, or the Board, as principals ; as any thing else, infleed, 
•han mere volautarij fiel]>ers, selected and chosen by himself to carry 
lut the benevolent purpose of his own independent self-consecration. 
The idea that a mission is a contract between the churches and the 
missionary in any such sense, that he may cease to perform mission- 
ary labor, and claim a pension, (as the servants of the East India 
Company do,) after a certain number of years, and while he is yet 
able to labor — should it ever become an effective element in the 
reasoning of missionaries — would prove destructive to the faith and 
vitality of the enterprise. If this idea has sometimes been advanced 
by missionaries, it has been when reasoning under the pressure of 
parental solicitude, and in great part on the assumption that the 
work of publishing the Gospel was comtnitted by Christ to the 
church as a society, or corporate body, to act as a principal in the 
matter ; and as such, in the discharge of its own preeminent duty, 
to send forth and support preachers in all the world ; whereas, the 
command was given to individual disciples, before an organized 
Christian church existed; and whatever use was made of social or- 
ganizations during the apostolical age, the work was always regarded 
as the discharge of an individual and personal obligation. It is not 
less an individual and personal duty now, than it was then. The 
enlisting in the missionary enterprise is wholly voluntary, as wxdl 
on the part of the missionary who goes abroad, as on the part of his 
fellow-Christian who remains at home. They are co-workers and 
mutual helpers; and the cooperation of the donor may be as 'es- 
sential to the prosecution of the work as the labors of the mission- 
ary. On the part of all concerned, the consecration, Avhether of 
person or property, must be a voluntary ofiering by individual sub- 
jects of Christ's kingdom. Churches, in their organized capacity, 
have no authority to prescribe to an}* one of their members what he 
must do; but each must decide for himself, as the result of his own 
consciousness of dut}^ and privilege, what he ought to do, and to 
what i)art of the work he should devote himself. It is a question 
of individual responsibility. "As we have many members in one 
body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, 
are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another ; " 
and whatever any one does, he is to feel that it is in the discharge 
of his own prescribed duty. Christians at home will no more feel 
that they are really indebted to the missionary, than that the mis- 
sionary is indebted to them. They will no more feel that the 
missionary is doing their work, by going on a mission, than that 
they are doing his, by giving to support him. Each will regard 
himself as a fellow-servant of a common IMaster, engaged in a com- 
mon service, and performing just that part of the work which the 
Master has assigned to him. This vieAv of the subject is doubtless 
the correct one, and the only one that will comport with the suc- 
cessful prosecution of missions, for a prolonged period of time, and 
on an extended scale. It is necessary for all parties to feel, that they 
are discharr/ing only their oivn personal obligations, that they are perform- 
iivj only their own appropriate work. 

'" * The system, as it has been described, is found to work easily and 
well. The missionary is as free, in every sense, as the pastor. One 



70 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

is no more really liekl accountable for the manner of expending his 
salary, than is the otlier. One can no more absent himself from his 
field of labor and his Avork, without the concurrence of the body 
that furnishes the means of his support, than the other. The pastor 
can no more travel at the expense of his people, whether for health 
or business, without their consent, than the missionary can do so at 
the expense of the Board, without the consent of the Committee, or, 
iu certain specified cases, of his mission. The greatest embarrass- 
ments experienced in the working of the system are when the 
Committee are constrained to interpose their action, in order to re- 
lieve a mission from the influence of one of its own members, and 
where the questions at issue relate to points in missionary practice 
and expediency with which the community at home have not yet 
had opportunity to become fully conversant ; or to mere matters of 
fact, dependent on testimony, and requiring to be heard on both 
sides; — giving advantage to a disaffected missionary, should he 
choose to address himself to the popular mind. In a case of im- 
morality, if it be flagrant, the compact may be annulled ; and every 
one is ready to appreciate the reason. So if the missionary, how- 
ever conscientiously, break fellowship with his brethren, and deny 
their baptism, or their ordination, his right to continue in the mis- 
sion would cease ; — it being a well-ascertained fact, that such opin- 
ions, in addition to violating the understood engagements, usually 
prove destructive to the harmony of a mission, Avhen embraced by 
any of its members. The same is true if there be error in respect 
to important doctrines of the Gospel. It is not the mere doctrinal 
errors that are to be considered, but their distracting, disastrous 
effect on the happiness and efficiency of the mission. Thei'e is no 
need of making out formal charges to prove a case of heresy by a 
formal trial, as an ecclesiastical body would do. The question as- 
sumes a plain business form, — whether there is an actual departure 
from the basis on Avhich the missionary appointment was made, and 
what effect it has exerted on the peace and usefulness of the mission, 
and on the operations of the Board. 

" ' That the action of the Prudential Committee, dissolving the 
connection of a missionary with his mission and the Board, is not of 
the nature of an ecclesiastical proceeding, technically speaking, is 
evident from the fact that it leaves his ecclesiastical relations undis- 
turbed, llis regular standing, both as a minister of the Gospel and 
a member of the church, is not directly affected. As his a])point- 
ment to the mission did not destroy his relations to his association or 
presbytery, so neither does his dismission. The Committee of course 
leave the ecclesiastical relations of the case for the ecclesiastical body 
(if it choose to consider them) with which the missionaiy may hap- 
pen, at the time, to be connected. 

'' 'It will often be found, where difficulties between a returned 
missionary and the Committee come out to the view of the commu- 
nity, that the original difficulty was not between the missionary and 
the Committee, but between the missionary and his brethren of the 
mission ; and that the Committee interfered and assumed respon- 
sibility in the matter only Avhcn it became necessary, in order to 
relieve the mission from distracting and paralyzing divisions. The 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 71 

Board 1ms had as feAv unpleasant relations to its missionaries, it is 
believed, in proportion to the number of persons, as any other mis- 
sionary society in the new or old Avorld. 

" ' It should be stated, that the missionary has his safeguards, as 
■well as the pastor. The latter is not dismissed from his people 
without the intervention of a council or presbytery. Such a direct 
ecclesiastical intervention is manifestly impossible, as the case stands 
between the missionary and his directors. But the Committee do 
not see that the case would be otherAvise, were the Board elected by 
an ecclesiastical body, a General Assembly, for instance. As it is, 
the missionary has the right of appeal from the Prudential Committee 
to the large body of ministers and laymen composing the Board. If 
the question between him and tlie Board relate merely to Christian 
doctrine, or to alleged immoralities, and has sufficient importance to 
awaken the interest of an ecclesiastical body, he can obtain an opin- 
ion on liis proper Christian or ministerial standing from his presby- 
tery or classis, or from a council, and have the benelit of such a 
result. With this right, the Committee have never attempted to 
interfere. 

" ' Enough has been said to show, that whatever of salutary influ- 
ence there is in the connection between a pastor's faithful perform- 
ance of his engagements and the continuance of his support from his 
IX'ople, there is no less with the missionary. 

" 'But the grand reliance for the proper conduct of missionaries, is 

" *4. On their mutual watchfulness over each other, and the direct 
influence of truth on their minds and hearts. 

" 'As soon as a mission contains three or more missionaries, it is 
expected to organize itself as a self-governing community, under 
the laws, regulations, and general superintendence of the Board. 
Mutual Avatchfulness thus becomes the official duty of each member. 
It is also in a high sense the interest of each one to exercise a fra- 
ternal watchfulness over his brethren, in order to the safety and 
success of the enterprise in which the common welfare and happi- 
ness are embarked. And as brethren in Christ, as members of his 
church, and as jointly and severally his ambassadors to the heathen, — 
by the force of each of these relations, they are impelled to the 
same duty. Nor have the several missions under the care of the 
Board been a whit behind the ecclesiastical organizations of their 
native land in mutual and faithful Avatchfulness. 

'"The influence of truth on the reason, judgment and heart of 
missionaries, is mainly through the intercourse kept up with the 
Christian world, and especially with their native land, and through 
their reading and studies, and the reacting eflect of the faithful dis- 
charge of their missionary duties. 

" ' The interest Avhicli missionaries feel in their native land is not 
diminished by distance. Their home for Christ's sake, the home of 
their duty, is among the heathen, and grace makes them more than 
willing to live and die there. But natui-e has another home, dear to 
memory and ever interesting to thought and feeling, and with this 
they keep up an active correspondence during life. It is sti'iking to 
observe the number of letters passing between missionaries and 
their friends. The eflect of this correspondence must be great in 



72 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

cherishinir the social feelings, and especially in preserving the desire 
for a good name in their native land. This effect is increased by 
tlie reading of religious and other newspapers, and of magazines 
and bo()ks,"tliat are continually going to the missions, and causing 
the pubUc opinion at home, on all subjects, to bear directly on mis- 
sionaries, as it does on pastors. The Committee have long deemed 
it wise to pursue a liberal policy with respect to these matters, since 
well-informed, active and growing minds, yield most readily to 
wholesome rules and decisions, and to reason and common sense. 

" ' The correspondence of the executive officers of the Board 
with particular missions is more or less extended, at different times, 
according to circumstances. The free use of reasoning has always 
been awarded to them on all subjects, upon which they believe it 
would be useful to correspond with their brethren in the missions. 
No points are so much in dispute, but the Secretaries feel themselves 
at liberty to advert freely to them, — always being subject, of course, 
to have their correspondence revised at pleasure by the Committee, 
or by the Board. They may write upon caste, polygamy, slavery, 
creeds, preaching, education, the use of the press, modes of worship, 
evidence of piety, the Christian life, and numberless other kindred 
subjects. And they may give all the weight they can to their argu- 
ments, by bringing the experience of other missions, and what they 
know of the state of the public mind at home, to bear on the ques- 
tions at issue. The religious newspapers and other periodicals fur- 
nish the means of performing this latter service in respect to all 
subjects that interest and excite the communit3^ It is believed to 
be the duty of the Secretaries, acting under the direction of the 
Committee, to see that the missions are well furnished with the 
lights of truth. The Committee have had ample evidence of 
the value of this method of control. No class of ministers being 
more select than that which is engaged in the foreign missions, on 
none docs correct reasoning, and especially that which is founded on 
the word of God, have more influence. In general, nothing more is 
needed, in the actual relations and responsibilities of missionaries, 
to control the opinions and operations of a mission, than good scrip- 
tural arguments. And in all cases affecting the conscience, the less 
there is of an appearance of authority, the better the result. 

' " Libraries are connected with the several missions, some of which 
are large and valuable ; the material for labor, in all the departments, 
is abundantly supplied; and the missionary, in common with the 
pastor, has his peculiar inducements to study, and to cultivate his 
mind and heart, growing out of the exigencies of his position. And 
the more devoted, laborious and faithful he is in his work, the less 
need docs he commonly stand in of influence and direction from 
without. Truth, conscience, a sense of duty, regard for unity and 
peace, deference to public opinion, and concern Im* God's glory and 
the good of mankind, -— things such as these (not without some 
thought, it may be, of engagements to the Board and its patrons, 
and of the inconveniences resulting from their violation) have 
rarely failed to be sufl[icient, with the divine blessing, to secure 
order and efficiency in the working of Christian missions in foreign 
luuUs. In other words, it is the blessing of God on the free and vig- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 73 

oroius workinj? of the voluntary principle in missions, based on Chris- 
tian piety and inteUigenco. 

" ' The Committee believe it would be found, on a careful exami- 
nation of the history of missions, that no method of controlling 
missionaries, ditfering substantially from the one described in this 
report, has ever been effectual. Protestant missions, especially, and 
most of all from this country, can in no other way be long kept in 
existence. 

" ' Should it be supposed, that the great distance of the missions 
from the community which supports them must weaken the con- 
trolling influence, two things are to be considered : — (1.) The public 
attention is more generally and intently fixed on the conduct of the 
missionaries, than it is upon that of ministers any where at home. 
(2.) There is no greater probability that all the members of one of 
the larger missions will go wrong together, or will countenance 
one of their own number in so doing, than that there will be simi- 
lar wrong doing in almost any body of ministers, of equal numbers, 
which can be named in our own country. For they are as intelligent, 
as pious, have as much principle and sense of character, and as much 
desire to please God and do good ; and they know that they are 
watched by Christians over the world. 

" ' It is due to the patrons of the Board, who may entertain 
doubts whether its constitution is well adapted to secure the safest 
and most effijient prosecution of missions among the heathen, to 
advert briefly to the subject; indeed, the discussion would not other- 
wise be complete. 

" ' The Prudential Committee have not been able to see that the 
Board would increase its working power by any considerable changes 
in its constitution. So fer, indeed, as the greater part of New 
England is concerned, there does not seem to be a possibility of 
forming what is called an ecclesiastical Board, unless the relations of 
the Congregational churches to each other are first essentially modi- 
fied. And Vere such a Board to be created, it would no more pos- 
sess authority to perform purely ecclesiastical acts, than has the 
present Board. The Committee presume that it would not be wise 
to attempt a change in the present organization, until the details of 
the change are clearly proposed and understood, and well consid- 
ered; nor until there is good reason to believe the new or modified 
organization would work better than the present; that it will com- 
mand more confidence at home among the churches, and more 
abroad with the missionaries ; and that it Avill secure the confidence 
which the present Board has gained in the mereantile world. Our 
fathers were providentially led to adopt the existing form of organi- 
zation for conducting foreign missions, as best adapted to their day ; 
and Avlien the existing form is found not to answer the purpose, 
their children will doubtless change it. It was instituted solely for 
the spread of the Gospel among the heathen, and in times favorable 
for taking an unbiassed view of the subject; and hitherto it has 
actually worked better than any of its founders ventured to expect. 
It has, indeed, signally enjoyed the blessing of God. The attend- 
ance and interest at its annual meetings, the responses to its appeals 
for funds, the number and character of the men who go as its mis- 
4 



74 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

Bionarios, the success of its missions, and the standing it is permit- 
tod to lio'ld in the estimation of Christians generally, place it on a 
footing with other kindred institutions, whether voluntary or eccle- 
siastical. Nor does it appear to have less hold than other societies 
on the contidence, affection and conduct of its missionaries, nor upon 
the community to which it looks for support. Those who suppose 
that the leading motive with the community to contribute funds for 
the support of a system of missions is in the origin of a missionary 
society, or in the form of its constitution, fall into an error. It is 
rather in the number and importance of the missions ; in the tokens 
of God's presence in those missions ; in the evidence of judgment, 
faithfulness and energy in the administration. The essential thing 
doubtless is, that the contributors have the means of obtaining 
satisfactory evidence that their money is Avell employed. This 
they have in respect to the Board. Its one hundred and eighty 
Corporate Members, and its five or six thousand Honorary Mem- 
bers, invariably secure for it an annual meeting, (continuing three 
days,) that forms a representation of the individuals and of the Chris- 
tian community supporting its operations, as real, active and ex- 
tensive, as any other benevolent society has in this country, or 
in the world. There is at that meeting a representation from most 
parts of the community ; and the greater portion, if not the whole 
of those present, take an intelligent and lively interest in the enter- 
prise. It would seem to be scarcely possible, in the present state 
of the churches, that the interests of a system of missions should 
be more perfectly represented, or be surrounded with more eflectual 
safeguards. 

" ' The Honorary Members have the same right with the Corporate 
Members of calling up subjects for inquiry at the meetings, of pro- 
posing resolutions, of acting on committees, of declaring their opin- 
ions, and of exerting every kind of moral influence ; and there Avas 
never an important subject before the annual meeting for discussion, 
■when the prevailing opinion of the meeting w^as not certainly known. 
The right of voting is, indeed, restricted by the Charter to members 
elected by ballot ; and the value of the charter, in a financial point 
of view, forbids its being unnecessarily relinquished, or set aside. 
These voting members are the trustees for the funds ; and by ac- 
cepting the trust, they come individually under special obligation 
with regard to the disposal of the funds, the preservation of the 
credit of the institution, and the general working of the system. 
They are specially bound to attend the annual meetings. Whatever 
theoretical importance (and it is not to be undervalued) is attached 
to an extension of the privilege of voting, the Committee believe 
that, from the beginning, it would not have altered a single result of 
any importance in the proceedings of the Board. And greatly must 
the religious state of our churches be changed for the worse, before 
there can be any real danger in the present organization. 

" ' The Board is to be viewed as an Agexcy, acting for such as 
choose to emi)loy it. It does not profess to be, and itis not, a dis- 
tinct power Avith separate interests from the churches ; nor are its 
agents sent into parislies as a substitute for the pastor, or as a co- 
ordinate power, to advocate a distinct and independent interest, in 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. iO 

which the pastor and people have no concern ; but, for tlie time 
being, they are mere auxiliaries to the pastors — the agents of the 
pastors — the pastors being the responsible persons. When the 
present organization is no longer deserving of confidence, it will 
soon die, as a thing of course. ISo far as the Board is an active and 
influential body, it is a mere creature of the public mind. It must 
go along with the permanent majority. It has no authority. It can- 
not, except by an abuse of terms, be said to levy taxes. It taxes no 
one. It can only state the command of Christ, the necessities of 
the heathen, the taciUties for doing the Avork of missions, its own 
plans and operations, and God's blessing upon them ; and argue, 
exhort and plead. Men give or not, just as they please; and it is 
best that it should be so. 

" ' The corrective power, in respect to the undue midtiplication 
and irregular woi'king of voluntary associations, lies with the pas- 
tors and churches. It is for them, individually, to decide what ob- 
jects shall and what shall not have access to their pulpits b}' means 
of agents. Here lies the only corrective power — where it ought to 
lie — in the primary associations and assemblies of the Christian 
Church ; and here there is such a power, easily applied, and, if ap- 
plied, adequate to the emergency. 

II. 
THE MISSION CHURCHES. 

]. THE LIBERTY BELONGIXG TO MISSION CHURCHES. 

" ' The INIission Churches in foreign lands, connected with the 
missions under the care of the Board, do not come properly under 
the jurisdiction of any body of men in this country. This is true 
of course so far as the Board is concerned, since that is not a body 
having ecclesiastical authority ; and it is believed to be equally true 
in respect to all ecclesiastical bodies. The influence exerted upon 
the mission churches by the ecclesiastical bodies of this country- 
must be through the missionaries. We can claim no jurisdiction 
over them because we planted them. 

" ' The great object of foreign missions is to persuade men to be 
reconciled to God, as their rightful and only Sovereign ; and the 
organization of churches is as really a means to this great end, as 
the preaching of the Gospel, or the printing of the Holy Scriptures. 
When the time comes for organizing native converts into churches, 
the missionaries, acting in behalf of these children in knowledge 
and in the power of self-organization and government, cannot pro- 
perly be restrained, by foreign interference, from conforming the 
organization to what the}/ regard as the apostolical usage in similar 
cases; — having respect, of course, to those necessary limitations 
already mentioned, to which they have voluntarily subjected them- 
selves for the maintenance of their social existence as missions, and 
for securing a regular and competent support from the Christian 
community at home. (See pp. 6G, 67.) The result may be a much 
simpler organization for the mission churches, than is found in lands 
that have long sat under the light and influences of the Gospel. 



fjQ THE AMERICAN BOARD 

Indeed experience has clearly sliown, that it is not well to attempt 
the transfer of the religious denominations of Christendom, full- 
urown'and with all their peculiarities, into heathen lands ; at least, 
until the new-born churches shall have had time to acquire a good 
deo-ree of discriminative and self-governing power. The experi- 
ence acquired in lands long Christian partially fails us when we go 
into heathen countries. We need to gain a new experience, and to 
revise many of our principles and usages ; and for this purpose to 
go prayerfully to the New Testament. 

" ' The religious liberty which we ourselves enjoy is equally the 
birthright of Christian converts in every part of the heathen world, 
on coming into the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ, w^hich they 
may claim as soon as they are prepared for it; just as American 
freedom is the birthright of our own children. The right of our 
children is not infringed by that dependence and control which they 
need during their infancy and childhood. It is even their right to 
claim, that the parent shall thus act for them in the early stages of 
their existence. But the wise parent will always form the principles 
and habits of his child Avith reference to the time when the right of 
self-control must be fully exercised and yielded. In like manner, 
the missionary must needs give form, at the outset, to the constitu- 
tion and habits of the mission churches ; and for a time he must 
virtually govern them. But he will do this with a constant regard 
to the coming period, when those churches must and will act inde- 
pendently. He will train them, as the Apostles evidently trained 
the churches under their care, so that they may be early freed from 
the necessity of missionary supervision. In the infancy of the 
Christian community that is placed under his care, he will act on 
such scriptural principles and usages as he deems best fitted to make 
the most of every individual member of the church. And this he 
will do at any amount of personal inconvenience to himself; remem- 
bering that the power of carrying burdens is acquired by practice, 
and that native converts can be inured to responsibilities only by 
having responsibilities placed upon them, and by a conviction that 
they are trusted. At the risk of multiplying his most painful cares 
and disappointments, he will also aim to provide a native pastor for 
each church, just as early as he can in the period of his own 
missionary supervision, that the spiritual machinery may be homo- 
geneous and complete in all its parts, and may the soonerbe made to 
work without foreign aid. In no other way, indeed, can he secure 
the grand result for which he labors — the development of the self- 
sustaining, self-governing power in the native Christian community. 

" 'Nor juay we expect or require of the mission churches, as the 
condition of giving them the Gospel and its institutions, that they 
shall always think, judge and act just as we do. We ought cheer- 
fully to abide the consequences of the full assertion of our prin- 
ciples ; and have patience, and bear long, and not give over, till it is 
evident that our moral means are exhausted, and that our enter- 
prise has failed. 

The necessity for long-suffering forbearance with churches 
gathered from among the heathen will be the more obvious, if we 
consider three things. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 77 

" ' One is thus stated in the Cambridge Platform * " The weakest 
measure of iaith is to be accepted in those tliat desire to be admitted 
into the church ; because weak Christians, if sincere, have the sub- 
stance of tbat faith, repentance and holiness, which is required in 
church members, and such have the most need of ordinances for 
their confirmation and growth in grace. The Lord Jesus would not 
quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed, but gathers 
the lambs in his arms and carries them in his bosom." None will 
question, that the liberty of mission churches, with respect to the 
admission of members, goes to this extent. Of all churches, those 
gathered among the heathen have most reason for asserting this 
freedom, since nowhere are the lambs of the flock so much exposed 
while out of the fold, and nowhere, comparatively speaking, are 
they so many. 

" ' Another thing is this. There are not several churches existing 
in one place, as in most of our towns, formed to a great extent on 
the principle of elective affinity. All who give credible evidence of 
Christian character must come into one and the same church, or be 
excluded altogether from church membership, and the ordinances of 
the Gospel. 

"'Again, we should consider the extreme moral and social 
degradation of all heathen communities, in which mission churches 
are gathered. Read the first chapter of the Epistle to the Eomans. 
Read the journals of modern missionaries. Consider the decline of 
mind among the masses of the people, under the long reign of 
piaganism ; the paralysis of the moral sense and conscience ; the 
grossness of habits, physical and mental, in speech and action, in 
domestic life and all social intercourse. Consider the absence of 
almost all those ideas which lie at the foundation of moral elevation 
in character ; the absence of words, even, to serve as pure vehicles 
of holy thought and sentiment; the absence of a correct public 
opinion on all things appertaining to manners and morals ; and the 
constant and all-pervading presence of polluting, degrading, soul- 
destroying temptations. 

" ' Causes such as these had their effects in the churches gathered 
by the Apostle Paul, as ■we see in his Epistles. When the Apostle 
directed his attention, for instance, to the church at Corinth, on 
which he had bestowed so great an amount of labor, he found 
occasion to lament the many who were carried away by false 
teachers, the disorder of their worship, their irregularities at the 
Lord's Supper, their neglect to discipline immoral members, their 
division into parties, their spirit of litigation, their debates, envy- 
ings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tunmlts. 
And how soon were a portion of the Galatians seduced from the 
Gospel, and from their loyalty to the truth, and turned again to 
their old bondage unto weak and beggarly elements, observing 
days, and months, and times, and j'ears ; so that the Apostle con- 
fesses his fears that he had labored in vain among them. He tliinks 
it needful to exhort the Ephesian church to put away lying, and to 
exhort those who had been dishonest before their conversion to steal 

* Ch. XIL, § 3. 



78 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

no more, and those who had been avaricious and impure to have 
nothiii-^ more to do with fornication and covetousness. Four years 
aft«'r he had addres^d his Epistle to the Ephesians, he informs 
Timothy that all his helpers in Lesser Asia were turned away from 
liim, and even two who had attained to some distinction. Before 
the date of his Epistle, he evidently had not full confidence in some 
of the native pastors in that province, as appears from his address to 
them at Miletus. While at Rome, he writes that some in that city 
preached Christ of envy and strife, supposing to add aflliction to his 
bonds ; and at his first arraignment before Caesar, not a member of 
that church had the moral courage to stand by him. Writing to the 
Philippians, he declares his belief that many church members were 
enemies of the cross of Christ, whose god Avas their belly, who 
gloried in their shame, and minded earthly tilings. In this same 
Epistle, he speaks in desponding terms of his native helpers, among 
Avhom were none like-minded with Timothy, but all sought their 
own, and not the things Avhich were Jesus Christ's. He thought it 
needful to exhort the Colossians not to lie one to another ; and the 
Thessalonians to withdraw from such of their number as walked 
disorderly. He cautions Timothy against fables, endless genealogies, 
and profane and vain babblings, as if such were prevalent in some 
of the churches ; and speaks of preachers destitute of the truth, 
possessing corrupt minds, ignorant, proud, addicted to controversies 
which engendered envy, strifes, and perverse disputations and rail- 
ings ; and of some who had even made shipwreck of the faith, and 
added blasphemy to their heresies. 

" ' And it should be added, that the Apostle John, somewhat later, 
declares that many "antichrists" had gone out from the church, 
because they did not reaUy belong to it in spirit and character, and, 
of course, had been in it, denying, as he says, the Father and the 
Son. 

" ' Yet it is generally supposed, whether correctly or not, that the 
apostolical churches possessed as much piety as exists in any por- 
tions of the visible church of our country and times, if not more. 
Indeed, the Apostle Paul speaks of the Roman Christians, only a 
few years before the date of his Epistles to Timothy, as being noted 
for their faith throughout the world. At the very time of his cen- 
sures on the Corinthians, he declares that church to be "enriched 
by Jesus Christ, in all utterance and in all knowledge," so that it 
came behind in no gift. And while he so seriously cautions the 
Ephesians, he ceases not to give thanks for their " faith in the Lord 
Jesus, and their love unto all the saints." He thanked God upon 
every remembrance of the Philippians ; and when he wrote to the 
Colossians, he gave thanks for their faith in Christ Jesus, and their 
love in the Spirit and to all the saints. And how remarkable his 
testimony in behalf of the Thessalonians ! He remembered with- 
out ceasing, and with constant gratitude, their work of faith, and 
labor of love, and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, wherein 
they had become followers of him and of the Lord, having received 
the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost; so that 
they were ensamples to all that believed, in Macedonia and Achaia. 
The fact undoubtedly is, that visible irregularities and disor- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 79 

ders, and even scandalous immoralities, are more to be expected in 
churches gathered from among the heathen ; and are, at the same 
time, to a certain extent, more consistent witli grace in the church, 
than in countries that have long enjoyed the light and influence of 
the Gospel. While the primitive converts from paganism we'e 
remarkable for the high tone of their religious feelings, and the sim- 
plicity and strength of their faith, they were wanting in respect to a 
clear, practical apprehension of the ethical code of the Gospel. It 
is obvious, indeed, that Paul found the burden of his " care of all 
the churches " much increased by the deceptive, impure, and thor- 
oughly wicked character of the age and countries in which he 
labored as a missionary and apostle. His manner of treating the 
native pastors and churches, notwithstanding their imperfections, is 
a model for missionaries and their supporters in our day ; who ought 
to expect greater external manifestations of ignorance on moral sub- 
jects, and of weakness and sin, in churches that are gathered in 
Africa, India, the Sandwich Islands, and among the Indian tribes, 
than in churches that existed at Ephesus, Colosse, Corinth, and the 
cities of Galatia, in the palmy days of Roman civilization. 

" ' In reasoning, however, about mission churches among the 
heathen, whether ancient or modern, we should take into view the 
moral imperfections found in all human associations, in every land 
and every age. How many such imperfections do actually exist 
now in the churches of which we are members, and how difficult it 
has been found to apply a remedy. How much time and labor has 
it cost, in our most favored States, so to alfect the public sentiment 
of professed Christians, as to induce them universally to abandon 
and avoid the trade in ardent spirits ; how hard to restrain multi- 
tudes of professors of religion from divers conformities to the world, 
having no countenance in the Gospel ; and how impossible, hitherto, 
to create a public sentiment in any church, that shall give the sin of 
covetousness, for instance, the place expressly assigned to it in the 
Word of God. 

2. HOW FAR THE BOARD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TEACHING OP 
THE MISSIONARIES, AND FOR THE CHARACTER OF THE MISSION 
CHURCHES. 

" ' The Board is responsible cUrecthj, in the manner which has been 
described, for the teaching of the missionaries. It cannot guaranty, 
however, an entire uniformity in their teaching. That diversity in 
mental habits, opinions, preaching, and social intercourse, which 
exists without rebuke among ministers of the same denomination at 
home, must be expected and tolerated among missionaries. 

"'The Board can require of missionaries a compliance Avitli their 
express and implied engagements, and the performance of all duties 
that are manifestly essential to the success of the enterprise. But 
in respect even to those fundamental obligations, when the mind of 
the missionary has swung so far otf from the line of his duty as to 
refuse a compliance, enforcement is commonly found to be out of the 
question ; generally, no other course is left but to dissolve his con- 
nection. The Board cannot, therefore, be held responsible for the 



80 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

invariable continuance of its missionaries in the path of their duty, 
even in respect to matters of vital importance. Its responsibility is 
limited to the proper selection of fields to be cultivated ; to the ju- 
dicious appointment and designation of missionaries ; to the consti- 
tution and laws by which the several missions are formed into self- 
rroverning communities ; to the equitable distribution of the funds 
placed at its disposal ; to the just and proper instruction of the mis- 
sionaries in matters within the province of the Board ; to timely and 
needful sui?i,a^stions, admonitions, exhortations and appeals, frater- 
nally addres^sed ; and, finally, to a faithful superintendence of the 
missions, and a decisive intervention when there are manifest 
departures from duty in the missionaries. 

'"But while the Board is directly responsible for the teaching of 
the missionaries, it cannot be held to a full responsibility for the 
results of their labors. Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God 
giveth the increase. The Apostle to the Gentiles, as we have seen, 
had to sorrow much over the imperfect results of his labors. As he 
was not fully responsible for the character of the churches he plant- 
ed, so missio7iarics cannot now be held to a full responsibility for the 
character of their mission churches. But the Board, as a missionary 
institution, (and the same would be true were it an ecclesiastical 
body,) is even less responsible than are its missionaries, for the 
character of the mission churches. It is not even directly respon- 
sible for the character of those churches, but only through the mis- 
sionaries ; and only so far through them, as it is properly held 
accountable for their character and teaching. If there be stupidity, 
ignorance, weakness, waywardness, perverseness, and even more 
scandalous wickedness in the mission churches — as the history of 
the Apostolical Churches would lead us to expect, even when the 
churches are gathered by the most able and faithful missionaries — 
they can be operated upon only through the missionaries. The 
Board cannot wisely address those churches directly on the subject, 
nor can any other body of men in this country, however constituted. 

" ' But when evils exist in the mission churches, the Prudential 
Committee may and must inquire, whether the missionaries are per- 
forming their dut}'. In one instance, some years ago, having reason 
to apprehend that admissions were made to a church in one of the 
missions, without a proper attention to the evidences of piety, the 
Board, at its annual meeting, instructed the Prudential Committee 
to inquire into the facts, with a view to a correction of the evil; and 
such inquiries were made by the Committee, and with a satisfactory 
issue. Inquiries have also been made by the Committee, as to the 
teaching of missionaries in some of the missions, with respect to 
alleged irregularities and evils in mission churches, and in the social 
and domestic state of native Christian communities. So far as a 
judicious and proper correspondence with the missionaries may 
properly afiect their incipient measures, in the formation of churches, 
and tlieir subsequent teachings, and so far as those measures de- 
termine the character of the churches, the Board is responsible for 
the character of the native churches. 

" ' Its responsibility in respect to the existence of slavery in several 
of the Indian churches has some peculiar modifications in the cir- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 81 

curastances of the case. The incipient measures for the formation of 
churches among the Cherokees and Choctaws were taken thirty 
years ago, — long before the subject of slavery came up for discus- 
sion among the churches at home. God was soon pleased hopefully 
to renew the hearts of a number of slaveholding Indians, and, upon 
giving credible evidence of piety, they were received into the church. 
What the missionaries could then have done, had they perceived all 
the bearings of that subject, cannot be known. The Indians are 
now partially civilized, and have organized governments. There 
are slaveholding whites Avithout, who are supposed to take an inter- 
est in continuing slavery among them, and slaveholding whites 
within, married to Indian wives, and thus become a part of the 
nation ; and their churches are organized Congregationally in one 
tribe, and Presbyterially in another. So that the missionaries, like 
pastors among ourselves, are obliged now to depend wholly on in- 
struction and persuasion for their influence on the churches under 
their care. The religious liberty of those churches is to be respect- 
ed. We should stand firm in support of our principles as to the 
rights of churches. Unless the missionaries are able to produce 
conviction — however desirable it may be that they should do it — 
the churches in the one case, and the sessions in the other, will vote 
in opposition to their views. It is admitted, however, that the mis- 
sionaries should do all in their power, in the exercise of their best 
discretion, to lead those churches and sessions to a right apprecia- 
tion of tlveir duty in this matter ; and that they should use a direct 
influence, at their discretion, to eradicate the evil of slavery, as well 
as all other evils, from the churches under their care. But it is 
obvious that the Board, and the missionaries under its direction, 
have not precisely the same decfree of responsibility for the existence 
of slavery in the churches just referred to, that they would have in 
respect to churches yet to be formed among the tribes of the African 
continent, or were churches now to be formed, for the first time, 
among the Indian tribes. 

" ' How long we should bear with mission churches that do not 
come up to our standard of duty, and may even greatly try our 
spirits, is what the Committee are not able to decide. But they 
cannot doubt that we should imitate the example of Him, who 
"maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth 
rain on the just and on the unjust; " and who "so loved the world 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have everlasting life :" and who "is long 
suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all 
should come to repentance." We need an abounding charity, a 
most Christ-like feeling, when we come to the question of with- 
drawing our support from churches we have gathered among the 
heathen, because they are slow in rising to our standard of Christian 
excellence. Should their deficiency be in any measure owing to 
our lack of knowledge on the subject, when we commenced our 
labors among them, it will strengthen our motives for forbearance. 
Before deciding a question so momentous to the interests of souls, 
and to our own future peace of conscience, it would be well to see 
whether we do not find in those churches the same spiritual results, 
4* 



g2 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

the same livin? Christianity, and the same moral defects, that ex- 
isted in the cliurches planted and nurtured by the Apostles ; and 
whether the Lord Jesus does not bless them with outpourings of his 
Holy Spirit, though they cannot yet be persuaded, in all important 
respects, to follow us. ,•■,.-. 

" ' We should remember, that none of us are principals in this work 
of missions. The work is Christ's, not ours ; and we are all his 
servants, to do his will. And if we look into our own churches, and 
consider their manifold imperfections, we shall find abundant cause 
for charity and forbearance in respect to all churches gathered 
among the heathen; and if we study the intellectual and moral con- 
dition of the pagan world, we shall only wonder that the first gene- 
ration of converts from heathenism can be so far raised in the scale 
of Christian morals and general excellence of character. 
" ' By order and in behalf of the Prudential Committee. 
EUTUS ANDERSON, ) 
DAVID GREENE, [Secretaries. 

SELAH B. TREAT, ) 

Missionary House, Boston, Sept., 1848.' " 

Under the pretext of maintaining " the ecclesiastical 
liberty of the missionaries," this rejDort seeks to make it 
appear that those missionaries have a right to admit slave- 
holders into their churches, and to allow them to continue 
there in good standing, aiid that there is ample Scriptural 
warrant for such a course. It seeks to make this appear, 
in spite of the antagonistic concession, in the same document, 
that slavery is " a^ variance tcilh the principles of the 
Christian religion.''^ 

It further urges, in maintenance of the right of the 
churches to vote in slaveholding candidates for church mem- 
bership, (amazing as it may seem, after the concession just 
mentioned !) that "The religious liberty of those churches is 
to be respected. We should stand firm in support of our 
principles as to the rights of churches." 

What sort of thing is the " right" of a Christian church 
to endorse acts "at variance with the principles of the 
C hristian religion " ? 

But, as if to clench and secure the above amazing position 
in regard to the missionaries, the report proceeds to say that, 
though the Board " is responsible, directly, for the teaching 
of the missionaries," it " cannot be held responsible for the 
invariable continuance of its missionaries in the path of their 
duty, even in respect to matters of vital importance:^ Then, 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 83 

it would seem, it may allow tlie missionaries to apostatize 
without discharging them ! 

It would take too much space to specify and formally 
expose even the principal instances of gross sophistry in this 
report. The reader who is at once intelligent and careful 
will find many such instances for himself. I shall speak par- 
ticularly of only two of them, both contained in the last 
division of the report. 

In the second division of the second part, where there is a 
pretence of answering the inquiry, " how far the Board is 
responsible for the teaching of the missionaries, and for the 
character of the mission churches," the two opening para- 
graphs are doubly self-refuting. This is their course of 
argument, in substance, namely : — 

1. The Board is responsible, directly, for the teaching of 
the missionaries, and it can require of them compliance with 
their engagements, and fulfilment of all duties manifestly 
essential. But — 

2. If the missionary refuses compliance, enforcement is 
commonly impossible, and, generally, no way is left but to 
dissolve his connection. 

3. Therefore, the Board C2iX\not be held responsible for the 
continuance of its missionaries, even in duties of vital 
importance. For — 

4. Its responsibility is limited to a faithful 

superintendence of the missions, and a decisive intervention 
when there are manifest departures from duty in the 
missionaries. 

This, as I have said, is doubly self-refuting. For, since 
the second statement admits that the Board may dismiss the 
persistently unfaithful missionary, it is evident that the third 
statement should read — "Therefore, the Board must be held 
responsible for the continuance of its missionaries in their 
duty " ! It is the obvious duty of the Board to dismiss un- 
fliithful missionaries and substitute faithful ones. And this 
fact is recognized in the fourth statement, which, in direct 
and unblushing contradiction of its predecessor, admits a 
" decisive intervention " by the Board, whenever the mission- 
aries shall violate their duty. 

The other passage upon which I wish to remark is three 
paragraphs further on, where the Secretaries try to excuse 



34 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

the Board from responsibility for the existence of slavery in 
the mission churches. 

After admitting that the Cherokees and Choctaws were 
slaveholding nations thirty years before, when missionary 
labor was first commenced among them, and that slavehold- 
ing Indians were soon adjudged to have given " credible 
evTdence of piety," and were thereupon received into the 
church, the report proceeds — 

" What the missionaries could then have done, had they 
perceived all the bearings of that subject, cannot be known^ 

This statement is absurdly false. What the missionaries 
could have done is known, and is as plain as daylight. They 
could have taught their disciples that, slavery being " at 
variance with the principles of the Christian religion," the 
persistent slaveholder could not possibly give "credible evi- 
dence of piety," and thus could not be admitted to the 
church! Whether the unconverted Indians were purified 
from slavery or not, the missionaries were able to keep their 
churches pure, by utterly refusing to admit slaveholders ! 
But they did not choose to do this ! And the Board did not 
choose to require it of them ! And the Secretaries do not 
shrink from the disingenuousness of saying, in the very 
paragraph treating of the commencement of slavery in the 
Indian churches, (contained in the same Annual Beport 
which admits, p. 89, that " some of the earliest converts, in 
both nations, were the proprietors of slaves,") that the action 
of the missionaries is limited by the vote of the churches ! 
As if this excused the original formation of a church, by the 
admission of slaveholders as its earliest members, on the 
responsibility, and by the action, of the missionaries alone ! 

Such are some of the disgraceful shifts which were found 
absolutely necessary to make out a plausible case in vindica- 
tion of the Board. 

Let us see now by what means the report tries to excuse 
the failure of the missionaries to perform their duty of keep- 
ing slaveholders out of the churches, and the failure of the 
Board to require its performance. It says that these 
churches were formed, and slaveholders incorporated into 
them, " long before the subject of slavery came up for dis- 
cussion among the churches at home." This is true. And 
it is an unspeakable disgrace to the clergy, the teachers and 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 85 

guides of those " churches at home," that they not only 
slumbered over the complicity of themselves and their peo- 
ple with this awful sin, (neglecting, in the first place, to 
recognize or look at it,) but that, when William Lloyd 
Garrison brought out the evidence of the oppressions of the 
slave and the direct influence of the Northern people in con- 
tinuing this oppression, and made direct appeal to the 
ministers of Boston, and of Massachusetts, to lift up their 
voices on that subject, they first utterly refused,* and then 
gave their influence on the other side. 

It is true, most disgracefully for the churches and their 
clerical leaders, that the subject of slavery did not " come 
up for discussion in the churches" until a portion of what 
those churches opprobriously call " the world " had for years 
been actively and heartily engaged in it. But how amazing 
is the plea, offered by the recognized teachers of morals and 
relio;ion, in excuse for havino; failed to teach a certain 
essential part of morality and religion, that the pupils had 
not yet discovered that it was needful to be taught ! Yet 
the Secretaries must say such foolish things as this, unless 
they will either confess their great sin, or utterly hold their 
peace ! 

The pious language with which this report is filled — 
intended, as it is, to continue the recognition of slaveholding 
in the mission churches as right, and to stave off all 
remonstrances against it, (in spite of the admission, p. 68, that 
slavery is "at variance with the principles of the Christian 
religion,") — is a serious aggravation of its guilt. 

Immediately following this long report by the Secretaries, 
in the Annual Report of 1848, comes a still longer corre- 
spondence with the Cherokee and Choctaw missions, making 
a practical application of the theory of the Prudential Com- 
mittee (just rehearsed) for the continued permission of slave- 
holding in church members, and giving elaborate statements, 
from the missionaries of both nations, of their theories, their 
customs, and their intentions, in regard to that subject. 

* One of the ministers thus individually appealed to by Mr. Garrison on 
this subject was Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, then a recognized leader among 
the Orthodox Congregational churches. To a statement of the appalling 
facts involved in slaver}', and an urgent appeal that he would do something 
in opposition to it, he replied that he " had already too many irons in the 
fire to be able to give any attention to it." 



86 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

This correspondence, covering nearly thirty-three closely 
printed octavo pages in the Annual Eeport, (pp. 80 to 113,) 
is here subjoined. 

" COEEESrONDENCE WITH THE CHEEOKEE AND CHOCTAW 
MISSIONS. 

" This correspondence was brought before the Board by a spe- 
cial report of the Prudential Committee. Their communication 
is as follows: — 

"'It has been the wish of the Committee, for more than a year 
pnst, that the Secretary having charge of the Indian department 
might visit the Cherokee and Choctaw missions. Prior, indeed, to 
tlie last annual meeting, Mr. Greene was requested to hold himself 
in readiness to make such a visit in the course of a few weeks. 
The object of the Committee was twofold: — 1. To ascertain, as 
fully as practicable, the state and prospects of these missions ; and, 
2. To inquire more particularly into their relations to the subject of 
slavery. 

" 'After the meeting at Btiffalo, however, the Committee became 
satisfied that Mr. Greene ought to be excused from taking this jour- 
ney, for reasons growing out of the state of his health. Mr. Treat 
was directed, therefore, to visit the Clierokee and Choctaw missions 
as soon as he could make the necessary arrangements. He left 
accordingly on the oOth of November, and returned on the 1st of 
April, having been absent seventeen weeks and a half. "While he 
was in the Indian territory, he had personal interviews with all the 
missionaries individually ; and he spent several days with each of 
the missions assembled in their collective capacity. His attention 
was particularly directed to the subject of slavery in its relations to 
the labors of these brethren ; and much time was given to the 
acquiring of such information as appeared to be most important for 
the guidance of the Committee. After a full conference, each mis- 
sion concluded to address a letter to the Committee, exhibiting their 
views and principles in detail. The letter from the Cherokee mis- 
sion was received April 26 ; that from the Choctaw mission. May 6. 
Subsequently, and as soon as was practicable, Mr. Treat drew up a 
report on the general subject, presenting what seemed to be the 
leading features of the case. This report, together with the letters 
from the two missions, were taken into consideration on the 20th of 
June ; and the Committee directed a communication to be addressed 
to the missions in reply, setting forth their views in regard to the 
different topics which were thought to require notice. The answer 
of the brethren has not been received. Both missions had previously 
appointed meetings to be held simultaneously with the annual meet- 
ing of the Board ; and it is presumed that they have the subject now 
under consideration. 

" ' The Committee regret that they are not able to report a final 
adjustment of this embarrassing question ; but they have found it 
nnpossible to bring about this result. Knowing, however, the anxi- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 87 

ety of the Board to be informed as to what has actually been done, 
tlioy now submit for its consideration the documents which have 
been already mentioned/ 

" The report of Mr. Treat, the first of the documents mentioned 
in the foregoing communication, is in the following language : — 

" * To the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners 
for Foreign Missions : — 
" ' The instructions under which I was directed to visit the Cher- 
okee and Choctaw missions will be apparent from the following 
action of the Prudential Committee, Kov. 23, 1847 : — 

"Mr. Treat having requested definite information as to the views of 
the Committee, in directing him to visit the Choctaw and Cherokee mis- 
sions, it was 

^'Resolved, 1. That he be instructed to ascertain, as fully and accurately 
as practicable, the present state and prospects of the missions, for the in- 
formation of the Ccmniittee, and for the assistance of himself in his cor- 
respondence hereafter -with the missions. 

" Eesohed, 2. That he be instructed to go into a full and fraternal ex- 
amination of the relations of the missions, and the churches under their 
care, to the subject of slavery ; and the missionaries are requested to give 
him all the information in their power bearing upon the case." 

" * I arrived at Dwight, the first station which I visited, on the 4th 
of January, 1848. The eight following weeks were wholly spent 
within the limits of the Cherokee and Choctaw nations. During 
tliis period, I saw all the missionaries and assistant missionaries 
under tlie direction of the Board ; as also the missionaries and 
educational establishments sustained by other organizations within 
the boundaries of the two nations. It was my endeavor to acquaint 
myself, as fully as practicable, with the plans and labors of our 
brethren ; and in relation to the general interests of the missions, I 
shall hold myself in readiness to make such communications, and in 
such form, as the Committee may direct. 

" ' It seems desirable, however, that the Committee should receive 
a report on the relation of the two missions to the subject of slavery, 
without any further delay. Much time and reflection have been 
given to the examination of those topics which occurred to me as 
most important ; and it is but simple justice to the missionaries to 
say, that they have done all that I expected, or wished, to lacilitate 
my inquiries. The}^ were fully aware of the delicacy of their posi- 
tion. Still, they withheld no ini'ormation which I asked ; but, on 
the contrary, met the difficulties and trials of the case with a frank- 
ness and self-forgetfulness which entitle them to my waimest 
thanks. 

" ' As there are many points of resemblance between slavery as it 
exists among the Cherokees, and the same institution as it is found 
among their brethren south of the Arkansas ; and as the two mis- 
sions stard upon ground which, in many respects, is common to 
both, it will be more convenic nt, and probably more satisfactory, to 
consider the subject in its relations to both at the same time. For 



88 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

the purpose of preventing misapprehension, it may be well to state, 
in this place, that the Choctaws and Chickasaws who have removed 
to the Indian territory now live under one government, and consti- 
tute one people, knoAvn as the " Choctaw Nation." In the following 
remarks, therefore, I shall be understood as applying the term 
" Choctaws," " Choctaw Nation," &c., to the Avhole community, as 
thus constituted ; unless I expressly distinguish one class of Indians 
from the other. 

"'l. SLAVERY AMOXG THE CHEROKEES AND CHOCTAWS. 

" ' 1. Its Origin. 

" ' It was hardly to be expected, perhaps, that we should be able 
to ascertain the early history of slavery, as it exists among these 
Indian tribes, to our perfect satisfaction. All accounts agree, how- 
ever, that it was introduced into each of them by white men. 

" ' Some have supposed that it had its origin among the Cherokees 
no farther back than the Revolutionary war ; when a number of 
tories, holding slaves, fled from the Southern States, and took refuge 
among this people. But there is one slave now living, at the age of 
seventy-five, who was born in a state of servitude in the old Clieroke"e 
nation. Hence we may conclude that the institution first took root 
in this tribe nearly, if not quite, one hundred years ago. And it is 
not unlikely that the evil began with white men, who settled in the 
nation, and married Cherokee women. At a later day, slaves were 
frequently introduced by purchase ; and many are now to be found 
who came originally from the Southern States. 

" ' It is said that negro slaves Avere first introduced among the 
Chickasaws about the middle of the last century, by unprincipled 
white men, who stole them from Southern planters, and afterwards 
secreted them within the old nation. Slavery among the Choctaws, 
it is affirmed, had its origin in the intermarriage of white men with 
Choctaw women. Subsequently, as they obtained the means, they 
imitated the example of their civilized neighbors ; and those who 
lived upon the "Natchez Trace," and who were accustomed to en- 
tertain travellers in their humble dwellings, seem to have acquired, 
in process of time, quite a number of slaves. The treaty of 1830 led 
to a considerable increase of this species of property ; and when the 
Chickasaws sold their lands east of the Mississippi, they made large 
additions to their slave population. 

" ' 2. Its Character. 
" ' The foregoing statements will suggest all that is necessary to 
be known in relation to this topic. As the institution was derived 
from the Avhites, it has all the general characteristics of negro slav- 
ery m the southern portion of our Union. In such a state of society 
as we find among these Indians, there must of necessity be some 
modification of the system ; but in all its essential features, it remains 
unchanged. 

" ' 3. Number of Slaves. 
" ' Upon this point, it is impossible to obtain reliable information. 
JNo census of the slaves has been taken recently in either nation; 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 89 

and tliflfereiit individuals have very different opinions as to their 
present number. Some say that among the Cherokees there are 
not more than seven hundred ; -vvhile others tliink there are as many 
as fifteen liundred. The latter is the estimate of the Principal Chief, 
and it is most likely to be correct. At any rate, we must suppose 
the proportion of slaves to Cherokees to be nearly, if not quite, as 
one to ten. 

" ' The better opinion seems to be, that the whole number of slaves 
in the Choctaw nation is at least two thousand. Of these, however, 
the Chickasaws possess more than their proportionate share. The 
ratio of the Chickasaws to their slaves is about five or six to one ; 
while the Choctaws are to their slaves, probably, as ten or twelve to 
one. 

" ' The number of slaves, whether among the Cherokees or Choc- 
taws, does not appear to be materially aflected by the introduction 
of negroes from the adjacent States. But there is undoubtedly a 
natural increase going on all the while ; an increase, too, which is 
greater than that of the Indians themselves. A few slaves are sold 
out of these nations, from time to time ; and occasionally one obtains 
his freedom by his own efiorts or those of his friends, or by the vol- 
untary act of his master. 

" ' 4. Their Treatment. 

** * It is the opinion of almost every missionary, that slavery exists 
among these tribes in a milder form than that which is generally 
found in the States ; and this is thought to be the opinion of the 
slaves themselves who reside in the Indian territory. As a general 
truth, it is atfirmed, they have a comfortable supply of food and 
clothing ; and they are seldom tasked beyond their strength. It is 
admitted, however, that there are cases of gross cruelty and oppres- 
sion. 

" 'The conclusion to which my own mind has been brought does 
not differ materially from that of the missionaries. I do not imagine 
that the slaves held by Cherokees or Choctaws are generally over- 
tasked. On the contrary, I presume that they frequently have too 
little labor to perform for their own good. Indolence is one of the 
besetting sins of all red men ; and hence their ideas of labor, not 
only as aflfecting themselves, but others also, are very apt to be erro- 
neous. Kor do I suppose that there is much intentional omission, 
on the part of the masters, to furnish the necessary food and cloth- 
ing. And it is quite certain that slaves are much more on a footing 
of equality with their owners in these tribes, than they are among 
the whites. 

" ' Still, it is hardly possible that persons held in bondage by such 
a people should be in as favorable circumstances as those who have 
fallen into the hands of enlightened and humane masters in the 
States ; especially if those masters are under the influence of Chris- 
tian principle, and are endeavoring to treat their slaves according to 
the injunctions of the Gospel. For, while it is true that a few slave- 
holders in the Cherokee and Choctaw nations manifest a commen- 
dable solicitude in regard to the spiritual interests of their slaves, it 
is also true, that they cannot have that ability to give religious in- 



90 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

struction even if they fully appreciate its importance, which is found 
in communities further advanced in Christian knowledge and civih- 
zation. I should say, therefore, that many slaves in the States are 
better off than any among the Cherokees ; while, at the same time, 
there are multitudes who are in a much worse condition. 
"'5. Laws relating to Slavery. 
" ' The legislation of the Cherokees, so far as it affects free negroes 
and slaves, appears to be milder than that of most slaveholding com- 
munities. For example, the only restriction upon emancipation is 
contained in the third section of an act, passed Dec. 2, 1842, which 
is as follows : — 

" Be it further enacted, That should any citizen or citizens of this Na- 
tion free any negro or negroes, the said citizen or citizens shall be respon- 
sible for the conduct of the negro or negroes so freed ; and in case the cit- 
izen or citizens, so freeing any negro or negroes, shall die or remove from 
the limits of this nation, it shali be required of such negro or negroes 
that he, she or they give satisfactory security to any one of the Circuit 
Judges for their conduct ; or, herein failing, he, she or they shall be sub- 
ject to removal as above specified." 

" ' In the two previous sections of the same act, it is made the 
duty of the sheriffs to notify all free negroes then in the nation, 
(excepting those who had been previously freed by Cherokees,) to 
leave the same by Jan. 1, 1843, or as soon thereafter as practicable. 
In case of a refusal to comply, the sheriffs were directed to report 
such free negroes to the United States Agent for the Cherokees, for 
immediate expulsion. It is by the provisions of these two sections 
that the " removal as above specified," in the third section, is to be 
explained. 

" ' The Committee wUl be sorry to learn, however, that there is 
another statute which debars alike the free negro and the slave from 
all direct access to "the lively oracles." It is as follows: "Be it 
enacted by the National Council, That from and after the passage of 
this act, it shall not be lawful for any person or persons whatever to 
teach any free negro or negroes, not of Cherokee blood, or any slave 
belonging to any citizen or citizens of the Xation, to read or write." 
The penalty annexed to a violation of this enactment is a fine of 
8100 to $500, at the discretion of the court trying the offence. 
This law is the more to be regretted, as it must needs embarrass the 
mission in its efforts to benefit this injured and neglected portion of 
the community. 

" ' Tlie restrictions upon the right of property, as applicable to the 
colored race, are as follows : 1. No free negro or mulatto, not of 
Cherokee blood, may hold or own any improvement in the nation. 
2. Slaves are prohibited from owning horses, cattle, hogs or fire- 
arms ; and it is niadti tlie duty of tlie sheriff to sell, at public auction, 
all such property when found in his district; the proceeds of the 
sale, however, are to be paid to the offender, after deducting eight 
per cent, for the sheriff's fees. The reason assigned for so much of 
the law as relates to horses, cattle, and hogs, is that the ownership 
of such property by the slaves had become a nuisance to the master, 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 91 

at the same time that it was a temptation to theft, &c. It is the 
opinion of one missionary, at least, that this statute is not very rig- 
idly enforced. 

" ' It is also enacted that pati'ol companies may take up and bring 
to punishment any negro not having a legal pass, that may be stroll- 
ing about, away from the premises of his master. And any negro, 
not entitled to Cherokee privileges, who may be found carrying 
guns, pistols, bowie-knives, butcher-knives, or dirks, is liable to the 
summary infliction, by the pati'oI companies, of forty stripes save 
one. 

" ' The legislation of the Choctaws has been less enlightened and 
humane than that of the Cherokees. So long ago as October, 183G, 
the following law was passed : — 

" Be it enacted, fyc, That from and after the passage of this act, if any 
citizen of the United States, acting as a missionarj"-, or a preacher, or 
whatever his occupation may be, is found to take an active part in favoring 
the principles and notions of the most fatal and destructive doctrines of 
abolitionism, he shall be compelled to leave the Nation, and for ever stay 
out of it. 

" And be it further enacted. That teaching slaves how to read, to write, 
or to sing in meeting-houses, or schools, or in any open place, without the 
consent of the owner, or allowing them to sit at table with him, shall be 
sufficient ground to convict persons of favoring the principles and notions 
of abolitionism." 

" ' At the same session, it was provided that no slave should " be 
in possession of any property or arms." The only penalty, how- 
ever, was a forfeiture of the prohibit<:;d articles, and "any good 
honest slave" might "carry a gun by showing a written pass from 
his master or mistress." And it was further provided, that if any 
slave infringed any Choctaw rights, he should "be driven out of 
company, to behave himself; " and, in case of his return and further 
intrusion, he should receive ten lashes. 

" ' Four years later, it was enacted that all free negroes in the 
nation, unconnected with the Choctaw or Chickasaw blood, should 
leave the nation by the first of March, 1811, and for ever keep out 
of it ; and in case of their infringing this law, they were to be seized 
and sold to the highest bidder for Hfe, the proceeds of the sale to be 
divided among the districts according to their population. It was 
also enacted, that if any citizen of the nation hired, concealed, or in 
any way protected, any free negro, to evade the foregoing provision, 
he should forfeit from •S250 to -"$500 ; or, if unable to pay this fine, 
receive fifty lashes on his bare back. And it was further enacted, 
that if any white man in the nation should abet, encourage or con- 
ceal a free negro, to screen him from the foregoing provision, he 
should be forthwith ordered out of the nation by the Chief or the 
Agent. 

' " In October, 1816, another law was passed, which prohibited 
all negroes from the United States or the neighboring tribes of In- 
dians, whether they had " papers " or not, from entering and remain- 
ing in the Choctaw nation, under pretence of hiring themselves to 
work. The offenders were to be taken up by the light-horsemen, 



92 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

and to receive not less than one hundred lashes on the bare back ; 
and all jiropertv found in their possession was to be sold publicly, 
one third of the proceeds to go to the light-horsemen, and the rest 
to be ai)i)lied to some beneficial purpose. 

" ' The most objectionable enactment which I find,^ having any- 
bearing upon slavery, was approved Oct. 15, 1846. It is as follows : 

" Be it enacted, ^c, That no negro slave can be emancipated in this 
Nation, except by application or petition of the owner to the General 
Council ; and Provided aho, that it shall be made to appear to the Council 
the owner or owners, at the time of application, shall have no debt or debts 
outstanding against him or her, either in or out of this Nation. Then, 
and in that case, the General Council shall have the power to pass an act 
for the owner to emancipate his or her slave, which negro, after being 
freed, shall leave this Nation within thirty days after the passage of this 
act. And in case said free negro or negroes shall return into this Nation 
afterwards, he, she, or they shall be subject to be taken by the light-horse- 
men, and exposed to public sale for the term of five years ; and the funds 
arising from such sale shall be used as national funds." 

** ' 6. Effects of Slavery. 

" ' In relation to this point, there can be but one opinion. The 
institution is decidedly prejudicial, in a great variety of ways, to 
the most important interests of both nations ; and this is the convic- 
tion of some of the slaveliolders themselves. Among the Cherokees, 
slave labor is generally, if not universally, unprofitable ; and though 
it is more valuable in the Choctaw country, in consequence of the 
greater adaptation of the latter to the raising of cotton, it prevents, 
to a considerable extent, there as elsewhere, that self-relying indus- 
tr}' and enterprise which are so desirable in such a community. It 
should be stated, however, that labor appears to have less dishonor 
attached to it in both these nations, than in some other slaveholding 
comiuunities. 

" And if we look at the moral effects of slavery on these tribes of 
Indians, we find them to be very much as they are found to be in 
other i)arts of the world. If there is any difierence, it grows out of 
the fact tiiat the moral condition of the people is loAver than that of 
some other slaveholding communities ; and, consequently, the injury 
inflicted upon them is less palpable. I know of no other qualifica- 
tion which it is necessary to make. 

" ' As between the tribes themselves, however, I must say, that I 
had deeper and more depressing emotions as to the moral evils of 
slavery, while I was among the Choctaws, than I had among the 
Cherokees ; still, there may be, and there probably is, no material 
ditlL'rence. I was told by a very intelligent white man, that two 
thirds of the whiskey brought into the Choctaw nation were intro- 
duced by slaves. The retributive influence which they are exerting 
upon their masters and upon the whole community, in this and in 
other ways, is truly terrific. 

" ' It is very clear, moreover, that the influence of the missions is 
neutralized, to some extent, by the existence of slavery. Whatever 
atlL'cts injuriously the industry or the morals of the Indians, must 
necessarily operate as a hinderance to missionary success. Besides, 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 93 

this institution among these Indians, as elsewhere, tends to foster 
and strengthen that selfishness which is the grand obstacle to the re- 
ception of the truth as it is in Jesus. And it will be seen more fully 
hereafter, that the missionaries feel themselves not a little straitened 
whenever they come in contact with the system ; hence the Gospel 
is not brought to bear with its full power upon all those evils which 
are peculiar to such a state of society. 

" * 7. Influence of Christianity on Slavery. 

" ' This topic naturally suggests the following inquiries : — 1. What 
effect has the Gospel exerted upon the condition of the slaves '? 
2. What effect has it had upon their number ? 

" ' As to the first of tliese inquiries, it is clear to my own mind, 
that the influence of Christianity has been highl}^ salutary. As the 
doctrines of the Bible have obtained, from year to year, a wider dif- 
fusion and a stronger hold upon the people, the feelings and conduct 
of masters towai'ds their slaves have become more and more consid- 
erate and humane. One of tlie brethren among the Choctaws uses 
the following language, in which all the missionaries in both nations 
would doubtless unite : — " We have much reason to believe that 
Christianity has greatly improved the condition and character of the 
blacks, and the views and feelings of their masters towards them, 
where religion has been embraced. We have much reason to be- 
lieve that religion has exerted a general and beneficial influence in 
this ix'spect. And to persons thus situated, the Gospel has been glad 
tidings. Indeed, it would be painful to see the slaves thrown back 
to the condition they were in before the Gospel, with its restraints 
and Avarnings and encouragements, had reached them and their mas- 
ters. We should much dread any event that would lead to such a 
result." And, what is more important still, it will be seen hereafter 
that a large number of slaves in these tribes are members of the 
church. Among the Choctaws, indeed, the proportion of enslaved 
to free communicants is nearly as one to eight, showing that the Gos- 
pel has had greater success among the blacks than the Indians. 

" ' In regard to the second point, however, the conclusion to which 
I came Avas less satisfactory. It seems fair to presume that a few 
persons have been led by Christian principle to abstain from the pur- 
chase of slaves ; and such I was told Avas the case. But, on the 
other hand, Ave may not shut our eyes to the fact, that a process has 
been silently going forAvard Avhich has tended to a different result. 

" ' As fast as the doctrines of the Gospel have exerted their appro- 
priate influence, the Indians have advanced in civilization. They 
have felt neAv desires, and, consequently, ncAV Avants. Having these 
desires and experiencing these Avants, they have looked around for 
the means of gratifying the former, and removing the latter. They 
have sought to do this, as others had done before them, by the ac- 
quisition of property. But the forms of investment accessible to 
them Avere very feAV. They could not buy land, even had they 
wished to do so; because their Avhole country belonged to the na- 
tion in common. Indeed, there Avas hardly any species of property 
it was so natural for them to desire and seek as this of which Ave are 



94 THE AMERICAN BOARD 



spoakinff ; for it became not only a mode of investment, but, in their 
judKinent, the moans of further acquisition. If we also take into 
the'ticcount the hereditary repugnance of the Indian to labor; if we 
retiect that the slaves were capable of doing many things better tlian 
their masters ; we shall see hoAV the number of slaves may have in- 
creased, rather than diminished, as the Indians became more and 
more hke the people around them. 

" * 8. Prospective Termination of Slavery. 

" ' The mass of the people have no direct interest in slavery ; and 
could the expediency of bringing it to a speedy termination be 
brought fairly before their minds, they would probably desire its re- 
moval. But they have given very little thought or attention to the 
subject ; and it is very uncertain when the question will be exten- 
sively agitated among them. 

" ' The [)red()minant influence in both nations is mainly in the 
hands of slaveholders. The intelligence and enterprise which ena- 
ble them to acquire this species of property, also qualify them for 
an active and successful participation in public affairs. And many 
belonging to this class Avould certainly resist, to the utmost, any 
projjosal tending to the abolition of slavery. A few, indeed, might 
be glad to see a new order of things ; but their voices, should they 
advocate such a change, would soon be drowned by the louder re- 
monsti'ances of those who are less considerate and less disinterested. 

" ' And, in looking forward to the termination of slavery among 
the Indians, we must not forget the adverse foreign influences to 
which they are exposed. The owners of slaves among the Chero- 
kces and Choctaws are mostly whites or mixed bloods. In their 
feelings, sympathies and interests, therefore, they may be expected 
to agree, to a very considerable extent, with the same class of per- 
sons living without the nation ; and hence they will be easily 
affected by w^hatever is said or done to obstruct any plans which may 
be proposed for the melioration of this institution within their own 
borders. This is particularlj^ true of the Choctaws. Now, we may 
consider it as a settled point, that slaveholders in the adjacent States 
will never cojisent to the adoption of any scheme of emancipation 
by the Indians, or to any measures manifestly tending to this result. 
On the contrary, they will make the most strenuous efforts to keep 
tlungs just as they are; and at the slightest indication of danger, 
the alarm w^U be sounded. 

" ' The conclusion to w^hich my own mind has been brought is, 
that the Indians must be expected to follow, and not precede the 
surrounding communities, in any scheme which contemplates the 
extinction of slavery. 

"'ll. POLICY OF THE MISSIONS. 

" ' Before entering upon the various topics which grow out of this 
general subject, it Avill be advisable to recur to the circumstances in 
which missionary operations w^ere commenced among these tribes of 
Indians. 

" ' The Cherokee mission dates from January, 1817 ; the Choctaw 
mission was begun in the summer of 1818. The laborers in both 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 95 

nations have generally gone from the North ; and they have carried 
vr'nh them the sympathies and the opinions prevailing in the non- 
slaveholding States at the time of their departure. It is evident 
from their correspondence, that they were often tried and perplexed 
by questions of duty, occasioned by the existence of slavery around 
them, which arose during the progress of their work. But it was 
not to be expected that they should place themselves far in advance 
of public sentiment in New England and the Middle States, and act 
in accordance with views which began to be entertained among us 
only at a later day. 

" ' The leading motive of the Indians, in yielding their assent to 
the commencement of missions among them, was the procurement 
of certain educational advantages for their children. Few had any 
desire to have the Gospel preached to them for its own sake. On 
the other hand, the mass ot th.e ])eople felt a strong repugnance to 
any change in their established usages and institutions. Hence the 
missionaries thought themselves called upon, as far as possible, to 
act with that wisdom which was enjoined upon the first preachers 
of the Gospel by the Savior himself. 

" ' It so happened, moreover, that many of the earliest and warm- 
est friends of the missions were slaveholders. " On our arrival 
among the Choctaws," says one of the missionaries, " these men 
lield a commanding influence in the land. They took us by the 
hand, lent us aid, shoAved us kindness, opened their houses for us to 
preach in, both to themselves and to their servants ; to whom Ave 
were also able to preach, because they understood English. The 
great mass of the Choctaws knew but little about us ; nor did they 
feel any interest in the Gospel at that time." 

" 'One other fact should be kept in mind, as showing more clearly 
the embarrassments Avhich appertained to the case ; namely, that 
the Indians were dAvclling in the midst of slaveholding communi- 
ties. Their intercourse Avith Avhites Avas confined almost entirely to 
persons living in these communities. The public men in that part 
of the United States were all slaveholders. Even their great 
Fathers, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, &c., belonged to the same 
class. On the other hand, they had heard but little of the " more 
excellent way " that prevailed at the North ; and it is presumed 
that they Avere not at all solicitous to knoAv more. It Avas more con- 
genial to their feelings to float along Avitli the broad current in Avhicli 
they found themselves, leaving the responsibility, where it mainly 
belonged, Avith their Avhite neighbors. 

" * Such were the circumstances in Avhich the missionary opera- 
tions were commenced among the Cherokees and ChoctaAvs. The 
way is now prepared for an inquiry into the policy Avhich was 
actually adopted. 

" ' 1. The Preadiing of the Gospel. 
" ' At this distance of time, and after so many of the early laborers 
in the two nations have been removed b}' death, it Avould be very 
difficult, if not imiiossiblc, to ascertain the precise impressions of 
each individual as to the proper mode of exhibiting the Gospel in 
its bearings upon slavery. But the policy of the missions, as a 



9(3 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

whole, can be known with sufficient accuracy for all practical pur- 

"'it does not seem to have been the aim of the brethren to exert 
any direct influence, either by their public or their private teachings, 
upon the system of slavery. And they discovered, as they sup- 
posed, a sutficient warrant for this course in the New Testament. 
On looking to the example of the Savior and his Apostles, they 
found what they conceived to be an infallible rule to guide them in 
their labors. They found that nothing was said in direct condem- 
nation of slavery as a system ; neither was its sinfulness denounced, 
nor its continuance prohibited. But they did find that the mutual 
obligations of masters and servants were repeatedly and freely dis- 
cussed. "Here then," they seem to have argued, "is our course 
marked out for us. We must give instruction on the relative duties 
of the master and his slaves, just as the Bible has enjoined. As for 
the rest, we must rely on the earnest and faithful preaching of 
Christ and him crucified. With the blessing of God, and in his own 
time, we hope to see a great change effected. We hope to see the 
evils of slavery not only diminished, but actually and finally brouglit 
to an end. But in no other way do we regard ourselves as com- 
missioned to labor for the accomplisliment of this object." 

" * And the same policy has generally prevailed to the present 
time. There are individuals, perhaps, in both nations, who would 
refuse their assent to the principles which have just been ascribed 
to the missions in their early history. Others are well understood 
by the people around them to be unfriendly to slavery ; and all, or 
nearly all, may have expressed opinions in private adverse to the 
system. But most of them uniformly avoid this topic in their pub- 
lic ministrations ; and in their private intercourse with the Indians, 
they generally deem it advisable to use great caution. Among the 
Choctaws, however, there has been one example of a bolder policy ; 
but excitement has been occasioned, and opposition lias been stirred 
up ; and the brother who has felt constrained to adopt this course 
thinks it may be necessary for him to leave the nation. 

" ' 2. Instruction of Slaveholding Converts. 

" ' Some of the earliest converts in both nations were tlie pro- 
prietors of slaves. The question will naturally arise, " What in- 
structions were given them by the missionaries ? " I do not find 
that any distinction was made between this class of persons and 
others. Probably the attention of these brethren was not particular- 
ly called to the subject, any more than was that of the churches at 
the North. Nor has there been any marked difference to the present 
time. In some cases, the attention of the convert has been called to 
the instructions of the New Testament, and he has been told what 
he should do, as a Christian master, for his slaves ; but seldom has 
the missionary gone further than this. 

" ' 3. Admission of Slaveholders to the Church. 

" ' A few owners of slaves were early received into Christian fel- 
lowship. The only inquiry raised by the misisiouaries seems to 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 97 

have been, ' Does the candidate giver reasonable evidence of his 
being a new creature in Christ Jesus 1 ' They appear to have 
required the shiveholder to furnish the same amount of evidence 
that others furnished ; but they did not consider the mere fact of his 
sustaining this relation a barrier to his admission to the Lord's 
table. And this is their practice at the present time. 

" * In defence of their policy in this respect, past and present, they 
make their appeal, first of all, to the Bible, as showing tlie only con- 
dition of church membership. This, they say, is evidence of a 
change of heart ; and when such evidence is furnished, there is no 
law for excluding the candidate from the privileges of Clirist's 
house. They also say, that the adoption of a different rule in 
regard to slaveholders would have been fatal to the prosperity of the 
mission. And they are confident, should they now determine to 
subject this portion of the community to a new test, that their use- 
fulness Avould at once come to an end. 

" ' In my intercourse with the different missionaries, I endeavored 
to ascertain the exact number of slaveholders in each church, as 
also the number of slaves. The first item I found it somewhat dif- 
ficult to obtain, owing to the fact tliat the relation of husband and 
wife among the Indians, in regard to property, is not governed by 
the rules which prevail in the States. She may, and often does, 
own slaves ; and sometimes, I am told, both own them jointly. In 
the following table, both the husband and wife are reckoned as 
slaveholders, in all doubtful cases. 

" ' Cherokee Mission. I " ' Choctaw Mission'. 

Cliurches. No. of mem. Slavc'Iders. SlvsJ Churches. Xo. of mem. Slave'ldcrs. Slvs, 



Park Hill, 3G 


4 


3 


Pine Ridge, 53 


6* 


25 


Fairfield, 85 


12 


20 


Wheelock, 238 


7 


17 


Dwight, 50 


5 




M'tain Fork, 113 


4 


6 


Mount Zion, 22 


2 




Good Water, 259 


5 


7 


Uoucy Creek, 44 


1* 




Mt. Pleasant, 36 









— 


— 


May hew, 36 


1 




237 


24 


23 


Six Towns, 60 


7 


13 


• Living permanently out of the nation. 


Chickasaw, 77 


8 


33 








872 

* Four of thesfi are wh 


38 

ites. 


104 



" ' 4. Treatment of Slaveholders in the Church. 

" ' The Committee will have anticipated the course which tn 
mission have pursued in dealing with slaveholding church members 
It has been the aim of our brethren to act, in the main, in acconlance 
with the general theory already described. The relation of the 
Cliristian master to his slaves, either as to its lawfulness or its con- 
tinuance, they have not disturbed; and little has been said to him, 
calling in question the fundamental principles of the system. But 
the-^' have acknowk'dged their ol)ligation to secure, as far as in them 
lies, his compliance witlx the injunctions of the New Testament 
which are specifically addressed to those sustaining this relation. 

" ' The views of the Cherokee mission, in regard to the discipline 



98 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

of slaveliolding church members, will appear from their letter of 
March 21st, herewith submitted. Those of the Choctaw mission, 
as 1 understand them, are substantially the same. I ought to say in 
this place, liowever, that both missions appear to be satisfied that 
there has been little or nothing in the conduct of this class of 
persons, as it affects their slaves, which ought to subject them to 
church censure. 

" ' 5. Employment of Slave Labor. 

" 'Both missions have encountered more or less difficulty, from 
the first, in obtaining suitable aid in their domestic and larming 
operations. The plans of the brethren, owing to the number of 
boarding schools Avhich they have sustained, and the quantity of 
land which they have cultivated, have demanded a large amount of 
manual labor. At first, the Committee endeavored to meet this 
demand by sending out laborers in the character of assistant 
missionaries ; but the scheme was successful only in part. In these 
circumstances, what was to be done ■? Should the missions employ 
white laborers, residing among the Indians, or in the adjacent 
States 1 But persons of this description, of suitable character and 
qualifications, were seldom to be found. Should they call in the 
aid of the Indians themselves ? Till Avithin the last few years, they 
have been but poorly qualified, and but little disposed, to render the 
needful cooperation ; and even now, most of the brethren among 
the Choctaws deem it unsafe to rely on such assistance. To the 
employment of males, moreover, at stations where there were 
female boarding schools, there were objections of a different sort. 

"■ ' In this state of things, it has seemed to many of our brethren 
that the employment of slave labor, cither by hiring or by i^ur- 
chase, Avas expedient, nay, inevitable ; but in the minds of others, 
doubts and misgivings, as to one or both these modes, arose at an 
eai'ly day. In November, 1825, the attention of the Committee was 
called to the propriety of hiring slaves by some members of the 
Choctaw mission, and it was then resolved, " that the Committee do 
not see cause to prohibit this practice ; but, on the contrary, they 
are of the opinion that it may be expedient, in some circumstances, 
to employ persons Avho sustain this relation." It was understood, 
however, that this hiring should always be with the free consent of 
the slave. 

" ' About the same time, those missionaries among the Choctaws 
who had conscientious scruples in regard to the hiring of slaves, 
proposed to buy them with their own consent, with the understand- 
ing and agreement that they should be allowed to work out the pur- 
chase money, and then be free. To this plan the Committee con- 
sented, and in this way some ten or twelve subsequently gained 
their liberty. The same plan was adopted by the Cherokee mission, 
and with similar results ; but I am not able to say how many slaves, 
with the assistance thus afforded them, effected their emancipation. 

" ' ( )n the 2od of Feb., 1836, the Committee reviewed the last 
mentioned decision, and came to the conclusion, as " the Board or 
Its missionaries had been regarded by some of the friends of missions 
as holding slaves/' " in consequence of these transactions," to in- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 99 

struct the missionaries among the south-western Indians, " to enter 
into no more such contracts," and to relinquish all claim to the ser- 
vices of any one with wliom there had been a previous agreement 
of the kind. In the following month, (]March 12,) the Committee 
reconsidered the propriety of permitting the missionaries to hire 
slaves ; and they decided that it was expedient for them " to dis- 
pense altogether with slave labor," and it was resolved that they be 
instructed accordingly. In July following, in consequence of a let- 
ter from several members of the Dwight station, athrming that they 
could not perform the secular labors of the mission Avithout the 
assistance of hired slaves, the Conmiittee instructed the Secretary 
for the Indian department to inform those brethren, that the resolu- 
tion of jNIarch 12 was adopted in the belief that tlie brethren could 
dispense with slave labor ; but that if it were otherwise, the matter 
was left to their Christion discretion. I do not find that au}^ action 
has since been taken by the Committee, either in respect to the buy- 
ing or hiring of slaves. 

" ' AA^hen I was at Dwight, I found one slave laboring upon the 
farm connected with that station, hired at his own urgent request, 
but without any absolute necessity for his employment. No other 
slave is in the service of the Cherokee mission. And I am happy 
to say, that probably no embarrassment will arise to the Board from 
this mission, on account of any such question, in future. All the 
members of the mission are opposed to the hiring of slaves, with 
one exception, unless in extreme cases ; and the excepted indi- 
vidual will conform to the wishes of his brethren and the Commit- 
tee. And these brethren are also unanimous in the opinion, that 
slaves ought not to be purchased by tliera, even with a view to 
their prospective emanci])ation. 

" ' In the Choctaw mission, however, this question is one of a 
much more serious character. Since the arrangement which was 
made with the Choctaw government, in 184;>, in relation to the four 
female boarding scliools, the amount of secular labor at Pine 
Ridge, Good Water, Wheelock, and Stockbridge, has very greatly 
increased. The boys' boarding school at Norwalk has had the same 
effect at that station. The brethren at these stations have seen no 
way of meeting the wants of the mission, in this respect, but by 
hiring slaves. Accordingly, at the time of my visit, they had ten 
laborers of this description, male and female, in their employment. 
And they give us no reason to hope for any material change in 
future. 

" • I did not learn that any slaves had been purchased by the 
mission, with the funds of the Board, since the vote of Peb. 23, 
18o6. Individuals have made such purchases on their own responsi- 
biUty and with their own funds ; and one of the brethren, and only 
one, now sustains the legal relation of master to two slaves, one of 
Avhoni has earned her price by laboring in his employment, the 
other (\\iiV husband) having furnished the sum at which he was 
valued at the time of the sale. This legal interest in these two 
persons is understood, by them and hy others, to be solely for their 
protection and benefit. Tliey receive wages as if they were free, 
and they know that they can be free at any moment, by their own 



LofC. 



100 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

Yolition, Provision has also been made for tlie contingency of the 
missionary's death. But the mission expressed the opinion, during- 
my interviews with them, that it was not expedient for them, either 
as a mission or as individuals, to purchase any more slaves, even 
with a view to their future emancipation. 

"'conclusio:n^. 

" ' I have now presented to the Committee, as briefly as seemed 
desirable, a general view of the i-elations of our brethren among the 
Cherokees and Choctaws to the system of slavery in tlioso two 
nations. I have not felt called upon to express any opinion in 
regard to the various questions which naturally grow out of this 
subject; but I have preferred rather, and have endeavored accord- 
ingly, to submit the facts just as they would appear to an impartial 
observer, having no theory of his own to support, and having no 
wish to make out a case for or against the missions. Upon many of 
the points, however, w^hich will claim the attention of the Connnit- 
tee, I have opinions ; and I shall hold myself in readiness to state 
them, with all frankness, whenever they shall be required. 

"And I may be allowed to say, that I have had more or less dis- 
cussion with the missionaries themselves, in respect to their policy, 
and have freely pointed out certain differences betM'een their senti- 
ments and my OAvn. I would hope, however, that this has been 
done in the spirit of Christian charity, and that we parted with 
feelings of mutual attachment and esteem, deepened only by the 
trials through which we together passed. In the integrity and 
faithfulness of these servants of Christ, I have entire conhdence ; 
and whatever errors they may have committed in their difficult 
position, the Master has evidently been with them and blessed 
them. 

" ' All Avhich is respectfully submitted. 

" ' S. B. Trkat. 

" ' yiissionarij House, June Ibth, 1848.' 

" The letter of the Cherokee mission, already referred to, is 
here subjoined. 

" ' Dw^iGirr, March 21, 1848. 



i( ( 



Rev. S. B. Tee 



VT 



"'Dear Sir: — Our conference with you when at this place, 
respecting the attitude in Avhich we stand in relation to slavery, led 
to a conviction of the propriety and expediency of expressing to 
you in writing, and through you to the Prudential Committee, some 
of our united views in relation to that difficult and delicate subject. 
We are aware that we stand between two fires ; in danger of dis- 
pleasing, by what we may write, on the one hand, the people for 
whose good we labor, and on whose esteem and confidence our suc- 
cess must depend, and, on the other, the Christian community by 
whom we are sustained in our work. We do not say, in danger of 
displeasing the one or the other, but both at the sanie time, for op- 
posite reasons. But we must ask the candor of all, and endeavor, 
frankly and kindly and meekly, to tell the truth. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 101 

" ' I. The first part of the subject before us relates to the holding 
or ejuployment of slaves hy missionaries. On this we remark : — 

"'1. That no slave has ever been purchased by any missionary 
of the Board in this nation, except Avith a view to emancipation ; 
none who has not actually been emancipated ; consequently, that 
none of us now holds a slave on any terms whatever. And no ap- 
prehension need be entertained that any slave will be held by any 
member of the mission hereafter. 

" ' 2. On the subject of the hiring of slaves from their masters, 
we have to acknowledge a difference of opinion among ourselves. 
Some of us suppose that when it is done with the free consent, and 
especially at the earnest desire, of the slave himself, and when his 
condition is improved by it, and his privileges increased, and he is 
brought into the way of religious instruction, and so, perhaps, of 
salvation, to hire him is no violation of the law of love, but ratlier 
an act of kindness. Others, while they admit, — as, indeed, we see 
not hoAV any person can fail to admit, — that a kindness instead of 
an injury is done to the individual slave, yet believe that the 
practice tends to uphold and encourage the system of slavery, and 
is, therefore, an evil to be avoided as far as i)Ossible. None of us, 
however, whatever may be our individual opinions, have any inten- 
tion of employing slaves, imless in such peculiar circumstances as, 
from our conference witli you, we understand would constitute a 
sutRcient justification in the view of the Prudential Committee 
and of the Board. 

" ' Thus far, therefore, we see no ground of difficulty betAveen 
ourselves and the patrons of the Board. 

" ' II. But Avhen we come to the question, how far it is right or 
expedient for us to attempt to enforce our own views of Christian 
duty by the discipline of the church, we must remark, (1.) That 
our churches are Congregational churches, and are not subject to 
our dictation, but govern themselves. (2.) That we ourselves are 
bound by our OAvn consciences, and cannot submit to dictation as to 
what we shall do, or attempt to do, in the discipline of the church. 
Yet (3.) that we cheerfully acknowledge the right of the Board to 
know the principles on which we act, and the course which wc 
pursue ; and to withdraw from us their patronage, and support, 
if those principles or that course render us unworthy to be sus- 
tained. 

" ' Premising, therefore, that in what further we have to say in 
relation to the discipline of the churches, we mean to be understood 
as speaking only of the influence which we ourselves should exert, 
and not as having poAver to lord it over God's heritage, Ave proceed 
to state more particularly our vicAvs in relation to several points to 
which you, dear Sir, have directed our attention. 

" ' 1. We mourn the existence of slavery, and long for the coming 
of the day Avhen neither in our churches nor in the Avorld shall a 
slaveholder or a slave be found. At the same time, we cannot 
doubt that the course which many would urge us to pursue in rela- 
tion to our churches Avould only tend to retard, and not to hasten, 
the coming of that happy day. 



102 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

" ' 2. Wo rc<?ard it .as essential to evidence of piety, that a man 
profess and appear to adopt, as liis own practical gnide. the ruU" of 
our blessed Savior, " Wiiatsoever ye would that men should do to 
you. do ve even so to them." And we deem it our duty to inculcate 
this rule of action on church members and candidates for church 
fellowsliip, in relation to slaves and slavery, as well as to every other 
subject. IJut we suppose it Avould be highly nnreasonable to ex- 
pect that we should be able to brin,u- all true Christians to see^ 
always as we see, in regard to what are the actual requirements of 
the law of love ; or to demand of us that we reject such from our 
communion, because they cannot see with our eyes, or with the 
eyes of Northern Christians, brought up in so ditferent circum- 
stances, and under so ditterent intiuences. 

" o. It is a comparatively easy task to apply the discipline of tlie 
church to evils which are cvpl/citli/ condenuietl in the word of (iod ; 
but a far more diflticult and delicate task to ajiply it to such as are 
only impliedhi condemned by the general law of love. 

"'4. The laws of the Nation, sustaining the system of slavery, 
prevailing jealousy of missionary inti-rterence with what is gene- 
rally regarded as simply a political institution, and the views of 
church members themselves, all are ditliculties in the way of any 
church discipline which has a direct bearing on the subject of 
slavery. 

" '5. It is not always wise to attemi^t Avhat is manifestly imprac- 
ticable to be accomplished, though in itself desirable. In our an- 
swers to questions, we must have reference sometimes to what we 
stqipose practicable to be done, rather than to Avhat we might be 
ghul to do. 

" ' G. In regard to the question of rejecting any person from the 
church simpli/ because he is a slaveholder, we cannot for a moment 
hesitate. For (1) we regard it as Ciiicu'ii that the Aj^ostles. who are 
our patterns, did receive slaveholders to the conununion of the 
church ; and we have not yet been able to perceive any such ditler- 
cnce between their circumstances and ours, as to justify us in de- 
parting from their practice in this respect. And (2) our general 
rule is to receive all to our communion who give evidence that they 
love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ; and we cannot doubt that 
many slaveholders do give such evidence. 

" ' 7. Nor can we even make it a test of piety, or a condition of 
admission to the privileges of the church, that a candidate should 
ex[)ress a determination not to live and die a slaveholder. For 
while, on the one hand, a determination to hold on to the posses- 
sion of slaves, from motives manifestly selfish, would indeed con- 
stitute, in our minds, an evidence that the heart was not under the 
intlueuce of the law of love ; yet, on the other hand, we cannot 
doul)t the sincerity of mau}^ Christians, who, while they lament the 
existence of slavery, are yet fully persuaded that the emancipation 
of all their slaves, and suttering them to remain in the country, 
would only be doing an injury to the slaves themselves, as well as 
to the comumnity at large. And such, not seeing a near prospect 
of a change of circumstances, can ordinarily have uo definite pur- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 103 

pose of emancipating their slaves. The propriety of receiving such 
persons to Christian communion depends not upon the correctness 
of the opinion referred to. It is enough that the entertaining of 
sucli an opinion is shown by clear examples to be compatible with 
sincere piety ; for if this be so, it does not constitute a sufficient 
ground of exclusion from the privileges of the church of Christ. 

"'8. You asked, among other things, whether we would under- 
take to discipline a church member for buying or selling slaves as 
merchandise, for gain. 

" 'Before giving a direct answer to this inquiry, we must remark 
that there are two extremes in relation to the traffic in slaves. One 
extreme is where a man purchases slaves for the mere purpose of 
traffic, transporting them to where they command a higher price, 
and there selling them again. Such a man, even in a slaveholding 
community, is generally looked upon with abhorrence. And though 
such may be tolerated in many churches, they are not generally 
regarded as worthy of the name of Christian. Our churches have 
never yet furnished such an example. We trust they never will. 

" ' The other extreme is where a slave is purchased under an 
agreement between himself and the purchaser, that he shall be set 
free, so soon as the value of his labor shall equal the price of his 
purchase. Of this we have examples. And this the members of 
our churches would commend, as a praiscAvorthy deed. 

" 'But take another case, Avhich, at least in its principal features, 
is not uncommon. A slave is about to be sold to a slave-trader, but 
has leave, if he can, to find a neighbor who will purchase him. He 
applies to A., who replies, that he would gladly set him free, if he 
had the means, but is not able ; and to hold him as a slave his prin- 
ciples forbid. He cannot buy him. With tears and entreaties,, the 
slave tells of a wife and children whom he loves, and from whom 
he must be separated for ever ; but A. remains unmoved. He goes 
to B., and receives the same answer. But by long pleading, with 
crying and tears, B. is at length prevailed upon to make the pur- 
chase. Now, however true it may be that a more expanded and 
far-reaching view of the case would justify A. in his decision, yet 
we suppose it would be hard to persuade that poor slave that A. 
was not hard-hearted ; and that B. had not at least come nearer than 
A. to the fulfilment of the law of love. Hard, we should probably 
find it, to convince most of the members of our churches. 

'"Between the two extremes of purchasing for the slave's sake, 
and buying and selling Avith a total disregard of the interest of the 
slave, there are many cases of mixed motive, where the buyer or 
seller might alloAv that he had regard to his own interest ; but yet, 
as he makes the condition of the slave no worse, but perhaps mueli 
better, by the transfer, neither he, nor most of his brethren in the 
church, could be led to see that he had been guilty of any violation 
of the law of love. Occasional exchanges of masters are so insep- 
arable from the existence of slavery, that the churches could not 
consistently receive slaveholders to their communion at all, and at 
the same time forbid all such exchanges. We regard it, therefore, 
as impossible to exercise discipline for the buying or selling of 



204 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

slaves, except in flagrant cases of manifest disregard to the welfare 

of the slave. , , , n t • i- i 

" ' <J. A---aiu, you inquired whether we would discipline a member 
who, by sale 'or purchase, should separate husband and wife, or 
parents and children. -,,.,-, 

" ' In relation to the separation of parents and children, we must 
first remark, that it is one of those things which are not forbidden 
by any express injunction of Scripture ; so that, where wrong exists, 
it can be shown to be such only by exhibiting its inconsistency with 
the general law of love. Very young children, we helieve, are sel- 
dom separated from their mothers. In our churches, we do not 
remember to have known an instance. In regard to older children, 
many cases may arise, where neither the condition of the parent nor 
that of the child will he rendered worse, but that of one of them 
may be greatly improved by the proposed separation ; and where it 
cannot be readily shown to be any more a violation of the law of 
love, than any other transfer of a slave from one master to another. 
It is impossible, in our circumstances, to make it a general rule 
that the separation of parents and children, by sale or purchase, shall 
be regarded as a disciplinable offence. 

" ' The sepai'ation of husband and wife is a different case, being 
a violation of the express injunction, " What God hath joined 
together, let not man put asunder." The current of public senti- 
ment, too, is against the parting of husband and wife, unless in cases 
where the parties are knoAvn to be so unfaithful to each other as not 
to deserve that appellation, or in cases of aggravated crime on the 
part of the slave sold ; such, for example, as in New England would 
separate a free man from his family by consigning him to a pro- 
tracted residence in the penitentiary. With exceptions like these, 
we should hope to be sustained by our churches in the exercise of 
disciphne for the separation of husband and wife, if occasion should 
require ; but we hope rather that no such occasion may ever arise. 

"'10. Cruelty and injustice on the part of masters towards ser- 
vants we should regard in substantially the same light with injuries 
of parents to their children, of a mechanic to an indented apprentice, 
or of an employer to a hired servant ; always, Avith the Apostle Paul, 
enjoining upon servants to be obedient to their masters, and upon 
masters to render unto their servants that which is just and equal; 
and holding it as our duty, in cases of delinquency, to instruct, 
exhort, rebuke, or tell it to the church, according to the circum- 
stances and the measure of aggravation in each particular case. 

" ' 11. In regard to the religious instruction of slaves, we inculcate 
on all our members the duty of teaching the way of salvation to all 
under their care and influence, and especially their cliildren and 
servants. The covenants of our churches require it. That we per- 
form our whole duty in this or any other respect, we dare not 
claim. That we attain all we wish is far from the truth. How far 
the neglect of this duty should be made a matter of discipline, we 
suppose, must be left to the discretion of each pastor and each church. 
And while we have to confess that Ave painfully Avitness sad deficien- 
cies in members of our churches, in regard to the instruction of their 
servants not only, but of their children also, for which we have not 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 105 

attempted to procure the exercise of church discipline, we think we 
may safely appeal to the pastors of churches in the most highly 
favored portions of our country, Avhether they also do not feel the 
same pain in regard to the same neglect, on the part of some of 
their members, towards their children, apprentices and hired ser- 
vants, and yet make no attempt to procure the exclusion of such, 
delinquents from the privileges of the church. 

" ' These, dear Sir, are our views ; this the position in which we 
stand. And this statement we wish you to present to the Pruden- 
tial Committee, and have no objection that it be published to the 
world. AVhatever the consequence may be, we liave nothing to 
conceal. 

" ' We trust that we shall not, for this, be looked upon as advo- 
cates of slavery. We are not so. We lament and deplore the 
existence of such a system. Our feelings, our example, our influ- 
ence, are against it. But to make the adoption of all our views 
respecting it, and a corresponding course of .action, a test of piety 
and a condition of fellowship in our churches, is wliat we cannot in 
conscience do. Nor do we believe that our Northern brethren and 
friends could desire it, if they could see, as we think we see, what 
must be the inevitable result. 

" ' And now, dear Sir, if on account of this the Committee or the 
Board can no longer sustain us ; if they must withdraw from us their 
support, as we are aware that a portion of the Christian community 
would urge them to do, and, so far as they are concerned, leave the 
Cherokee people without the preaching of the word of God, then 
wherever the responsibility belongs, there let it rest. As to our- 
selves, we must act according to the dictates of our consciences, and 
be making known the Gospel to the Cherokee people while we may, 
and only then cease, when it is no longer in our power to continue. 

" ' But we pray the Committee to remember, that if the patronage 
of the Board be withdrawn from us, it will not be for the violation, 
on our part, of any condition on which we were sent into the field ; 
but in consequence of new conditions, with which we cannot in con- 
science comply. 

"'Again, if support be Avithdrawn from us on account of views 
which we have expressed in this communication, it will of necessity 
be, so far as the Board is concerned, an entire withholding of the 
word of God from the Cherokee jieople. For to recall us on this 
ground, and send others who would pursue an opposite course, 
would be manifestly preposterous and vain. Such an idea, we sup- 
pose, the Board could not for a moment entertain. 

" ' It is truly painful for us to think of a dissolution of our connec- 
tion with the Board, which dwells always in our hearts, and whose 
prosperity our thoughts always identify with the prosi)erity of the 
Zion of our God, and of which each of us is ready to say, " If I for- 
get thee, let my right hand forget her cunning ; if I do not remem- 
ber thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." At the 
same time, and for the same reason, we know not how to endure 
the thought that our connection with the Board should be an incum- 
brance, clogging its wheels, and diminishing its means of spreading 
5 * 



206 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

the Gospel in the earth. But if our voice could reach that portion of 
the Chri'^tian community -.vho disapprove our course, and would 
have the Board require us to do otherwise, or withdraw Irom us 
their patrona"e and support, we would respectfull}' ask whether they 
are quite sk/I that the course, which they require us to pursue, 
would do more to promote the object they desire than that which we 
do pursue. We would humbly confess our liability to error. But 
we would ask Avhether they are not liable to error too. AVe make 
no pretensions to superior wisdom. Yet we suppose we may, con- 
sistently Avith Christian modesty and humility, referto our superior 
advanta<?es for observing the circumstances in which we and the 
churches under our care are placed. They see very obscurely, in 
the dimness of the distance, what wc see clearly, immediately be- 
fore our eyes. It is impossible, we suppose, for them to appreciate 
the difficiifties which lie in the way of such a course of church dis- 
cipline as they would recommend ; impossible to appreciate the pal- 
liations which frequently exist, in relation to many evils incidental 
to the system of slavery ; impossible to see, at such a distance, the 
complication of difficulties by which the whole subject of slavery is 
embarrassed and perplexed. We have scarcely a doubt, that by far 
the greatest part of those ministers of the Gospel who are ready to 
censure or condemn our course would themselves, in the same cir- 
cumstances, pursue the same course. 

" * We would not claim a confidence to which we are not entitled ; 
but we ask for candor. And if it should be found, on inquiry, as we 
believe it would, that among all who, Avith principles opposed to 
slavery, become pastors of churches in communities Avhere slavery 
prevails, there are none, or next to none, who pursue a course ma- 
terially ditfering from our own, we think that that single fact should 
lead distant Christians at least to sus])crt that there may be better 
reasons for it than they are able to perceive, but Avhich a closer and 
clearer view of facts and circumstances and characters would enable 
them to discover. And we would further ask Avhether, if we are 
in other respects worthy of support, it is not at least better to con- 
tinue our care of the churches, than to leave them either as sheep 
without a shepherd, or to the care of men whose influence would 
tend still less than ours to hasten the day, to Avhich Ave all rejoice to 
look forward, when every bond shall be broken, and every slave go 
free. 

" ' We liaA^e endeavored distinctly, though briefly, to make knoAvn 
our A'icAvs. We earnestly hope that Avhat Ave have AA^-itten, instead 
of leading to any protracted discussion, Avail rather be taken as a 
final exposition of our sentiments, a defining of our position. Not 
that we are immutable, or dare pledge ourselves to see ahvays 
exactly as Ave noAv see ; but at present, certainly, we can perceive 
no reason to change our course. So Ave do ; and in so doing, Ave 
must stand or fall. 

" ' In behalf of the brethren of the Cherokee mission, 

" ' Very respectfully and truly yours, 

"'Elizur Bdtlek, Moderator. 
" ' S. A. Worcester, Clerk.' 



IN RELATION TO SLAVEUY. 107 

" The Choctaw mission sent the following letter to the Pru- 
dential Committee, as expressing their views : — 

"'XouwALK, Choctaw Nation, Marcli 31, 1848. 
" ' jTo the Prudential Committee of' the A. B. C. F. M., Missionary 
House, Boston: 

" 'Dear Bkethren and Fathers : — The letter which was pre- 
pared and written you by us, wliile our highly esteemed counsellor 
and friend, ^Nlr. Treat, one of the Secretaries of the Board, was 
with us, was not forwarded, as was expected when he left us. It 
was soon ascertained that it did not satisfactorily express the views 
and wishes of all the members of the mission. It was accordingly 
retained. It was written in circumstances that required more haste, 
and admitted of less mutual consultation, than was desirable, consid- 
ering the imjjortance of the subject. There was something wanting 
to produce in our own hearts the conviction, that it contained a full 
and faithful expression of the sentiments of the mission. And for 
the same reason, it was not adapted to convey to your minds the 
right impression. JNIore time was needed to examine and discuss so 
great a subject. The letter was retained, that it miglit be laid once 
more before the members of the mission, who would assemble at 
the meeting of the Indian Presbytery, on the last Thursday of 
March, at Xorwalk. 

" ' The letter having been read and considered, the mission are 
not willin<? to have it forwarded according to its form when Mr. 
Treat left us. We now wish to submit to the consideration of the 
Committee the following statements and remarks. 

" ' i'irst, respecting our neutrality. 

" ' Por many years, it has been deemed by us important to our 
usefulness in our own sphere of labor, not to agitate our own minds, 
nor those of our people, Avith any of the great and exciting topics 
of the day, in church or state, such as cause debate and division, 
and the ranging of men into parties against each other. We had 
our principles once tried in tins respect, when the Presbyterian 
Church was divided into two schools. The subject was once intro- 
duced into our Presbytery, for action thereon. A few words Avere 
spoken, enough to show that division might be near us. We then 
resolved to remain neutral. AVe deemed it of vital importance 
among our people to act as a band of brothers, and not have them 
suppose that Christ is divided. We endeavored to attend to our 
own Avork, and Ave Avere prospered in it. Since then, about one 
liundred persons yearly have been added to our churches. 

" ' In regard to one feature of the subject of slavery, Ave feel that 
our principles in favor of neutrality are also to be tried. We haA-e 
been aAvare of the approach of this subject. And Ave thought our 
situation Avas described by the prophet Isaiah, Aviien he said, " Their 
strength is to sit still." We have endeavored as a mission to keep 
aloof from tlie abolition movement, from some of the same reasons 
that forbade us to join our oavu Pi-esbyterian brethren in either of 
tlieir schools, so long as it Avould endanger our oavu unity. 

" ' And Ave Avish you, and all our friends here and elsewhere, to be 
assured that Ave feel much more pleasure and satisiaction in the hope 



108 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

of doins? masters and servants good, by preaching the Lord Jesus 
directly to them, than we can in explaining and enforcmg the prom- 
inent principles of equal rights, merely as such ; especially so far as 
they im[)ly that they contain something of importance, which has 
become so only within a few years. We feel that the Bible contains 
all that we have need to know or teach. And we prefer to use the 
plain language of the Bible, just as it is, upon the subject of slavery, 
to any other^code of principles or plans of operation. AVe have had 
trials on the subject of slavery ever since we came here. But we 
have endeavored to bear with each other and our fellow-Christians. 
And we have, until recently, succeeded as a mission in maintaining 
neutrality. You are aware that there is now, upon this subject, a 
division among us. And we do not wish for its growth. In our neu- 
trality, we supposed that we had enjoyed your approbation. For we 
have'noticed that at the annual meetings of the Board, Avhen memo- 
rials have been presented on the subject of slavery, it was apparent- 
ly with reluctance that they were considered, because they did not 
pertain to the great object of the organization of the Board. And 
yet we are now so involved in the matter that we can be silent no 
longer. 

" ' We wish to touch briefly on the history of our connection witli 
slavery. AYe have been and are concerned with it in two ways ; by 
employing slaves as laborers, and by admitting them and their mas- 
ters to the church, as we do other persons who give evidence of per- 
sonal piety. We are not slaveholders, nor have we been, save for the 
single purpose of emancipation, while laboring in our families. 

" ' In the year 1818, at the commencement of this mission, African 
slavery was in existence in this nation. The early missionaries 
were called to make it a subject of inquiry and prayer. There was 
no avoiding all contact with it. The large boarding-school establish- 
ments, and other multiplied and constant labors, in a hot and sickly 
climate, then as well as now, made the employment of considerable 
slave labor indispensable. For the plain reason, that the man who 
devotes his time and energies to the welfare of others, must himself 
have help in the performance of all such labors as he is not able to 
perform. Our brethren not having received instructions from the 
Prudential Committee, adopted that course which they deemed 
proper, and not inconsistent Avitli the Bible. 

"'In the spring of 1821, when we were favored with our first 
visit from Mr. Evarts, of blessed memory, the matter of employing 
slave labor underwent an examination. Written views against such 
labor were laid before the Secretary. His own were clearly ex- 
pressed at a large meeting of missionaries. The early course of the 
mission was continued with his approbation. And we are not aware 
that his views upon the points submitted to him were afterwards 
changed. 

" ' We need not here spread out before you in detail the corre- 
spondence and resolutions of the Prudential Committee in regard to 
the purchasing of slaves, with a reference to their working out their 
own redemption. We trust you have noticed in us an ordinary wil- 
Imgness, at least, to comply with your instructions. Yet we have 
been pamfully tried at tho nooossitv of employing this kind of help. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 109 

We did once hope that assistant missionaries could be found, and 
sent out in sufficient numbers, to avoid this difficulty. In this we 
have been disappointed. We have made expensive efforts to liire 
free people, and again have we failed. In our situation, we need 
help that can be relied on. And thus it will be while we remain 
here as missionaries. Good free help for us, in our situation, is very 
rare in this land. 

" ' We have felt it to be a peculiar privilege in a matter of so 
much importance to communicate freely with the Prudential Com- 
mittee, and to receive their instructions. Of late years, the subject 
of slavery has awakened a deep and growing interest in the minds 
of a large number of our best friends and patrons in our father land. 
Such an interest had not manifested itself when the older members 
of this mission were sent forth from New England to their work. 
The various measures adopted within a few years to present the 
slavery question, as connected with us, to the American Board at sev- 
eral of its annual meetings, we have not failed to notice. And we 
read with peculiar interest and satisfaction the proceedings of the 
Board, especially the great and good result to which, in the autumn 
of 1815, that venerable body of men arrived, when assembled at 
Brooklyn. We thouglit it was not in our power to express, in so 
clear a manner, our own leading principles on that whole subject, as 
were then given to the world. We thought that we occupied 
gronnd in comnion with our brethren and fathers. And some of us 
promised ourselves a time of rest, and of going forward in our work, 
without any further agitation, or necessity of having the slavery 
question introduced at our ecclesiastical and missionary meetings, as 
well as at the annual meetings of the Board. But the public mind 
did not find rest. Many publications indicated this. Letters also 
from the Missionary House have been of a kind since to awaken in 
us an apprehension, that we were not proceeding altogether right. 

"'Public conventions held since 1815 in Ohio and Illinois, espe- 
cially in Cliicago last summer, have expressed formal opinions wliich 
strongly indicate that all was not right among us. And Ave speak it 
with pain, we have strong reasons to fear, in reference to this one 
subject in our missionary labors, that full and fraternal confidence 
has not been exercised toward us by some who are the benefactors 
of the mission. And that we may regain and share their confidence, 
and sustain the character of good missionaries in their estimation, 
we apprehend that something more than Ave ha\^e CA'er done is noAV 
called for, something that is in advance of all that has been purposed 
and eflected by us, which shall be positive and tangible, and Avhich 
shall go directly to check a pro-slavery spirit, and to bring the sys- 
tem itself to an end. The above historical sketch shoAVs also our 
position. 

" ' For the first tAventy-five years of the mission, our course Avas 
generally in accordance with the vicAvs of the Prudential Commit- 
tee. Since that time, it has appeared, in some respects, to be other- 
wise. 

" ' It may be proper to state some of our own views, that neither 
ourselves nor the Board be spoken of as " the propagators of a 
slaveholding Christianity." And yet it Avill be difficult to present 



110 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

riglitly all the considerations Avhich have had an influence in the 
formation of our opinions, during the long period of our stay here, 
upon the subject of slavery. 

" ' When we came here, the question with us had ceased to be a 
speculative one. It was a practiced one. Kecessity was laiil upon us 
to learn the divine mode of treating it. For slavery was among the 
ChoctaAvs. It was not our work to inquire for its author, or into its 
history, but for our duties in regard to it. We thought that we necH.1 
not grope our way in the dark, and that the Lord had given .his 
church a revelation of his Avill. We are clearly of this impression 
now. The wrongs and evils of the system, in all their bearings and 
influences, are known to him. He alone can devise rules to remedy 
them all. We judge that he did take this subject under his own 
guidance, and has given his Church a knowledge of his will. Plain 
instructions are given to masters and servants, and to their teachers. 

'"Under the application and influence of these instructions, Ave 
are to look for those results, whatever they may be, which will be 
most pleasing to God, in their nature, time, and manner and mea- 
sure. It is our peculiar and appropriate work, as ministers of the 
Lord Jesus, to communicate the truths God has given, and as he 
gave them, hoping in tliis way to bring about that state of things 
which he holds dearer than all others. And it becomes us to go for- 
ward in the exercise of a full and living faith in these counsels of 
the Lord, and to trust the work and the issue in his hands. To man 
it might seem wise to take hold of the work, in some respects, in 
some other way. But we must remember that we are not to bo 
wise above what is written ; that "the word of God is quick and. 
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." He says by the 
mouth of the prophet, " It shall not return unto me void, but it shall 
accomplish that which I please." The Apostle Paul also says, 
" For the weapons of our warfare are not earned, but mighty 
through God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down 
imaginations and every thing that exalteth itself against the knowl- 
edge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obe- 
dience of Christ." Here is the ground of our confident hope of 
doing any good to masters and servants ; and yet, who is sufficient 
for these things ? And, oli ! that we could add, " Xow thanks be 
unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh 
manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place" ! We 
have much reason to be grateful that several masters have given 
evidence of piety, and were received into the church, because the 
Apostles have set us plain examples. More than two hundred of 
their servants, we have been allowed, at different times, to feed as 
members of the Savior's flock in these woods. These are some of 
our views of what we think we ought to do, and which we hope 
w^ill also be pleasing to God, if performed as he directs. 

" ' There are some things connected with slavery as a civil institu- 
tion, with which we have not yet considered it our duty to meddle. 

"'As a civil relation, it exists by virtue of the constitution and 
laws of the land. We are taught in the Bible our duties as citizens. 
It inay be deemed our duty by some to adopt a train of measures 
which shall aim in their object directly to countervail the whole sys- 



IN KKLATION TO SLAVERY. 1 1 1 

tem, and in the end undermine the entire fabric which human legisla- 
tion has framed in regard to slavery. "VVe do not feel that we are 
required to adopt such a course. Nor do we regard this as our work. 
AVe are not citizens of the nation. We are missionaries, residing 
here hy the permission of our national Government, and we can be 
removed at their pleasure. We are, in a civil res^Hjct, foreif/ners and 
tenants at v)lll under the officers of our Government. The civil 
interests of this people are not committed to us. Other interests 
are, and such as are of more value than all civil and political inter- 
ests combined. The Savior and his Apostles have not left any re- 
corded example of their devoting themselves to the reformation of 
systematic civil wrongs, although many such existed where they 
lived and labored. Their practice and instructions liave weight 
with us. Other members of the Church may be raised up to ac- 
complish good to their country as legislators, rulers, and reformers. 

" ' We would remark that, in our opinion, this is not the most eli- 
gible part of the United States for attempting, at this time, a change 
in the civil relations of masters and servants. If all the region, far 
and near, and on every side, were another New England in its 
glory, then another sun would shed down light. But it is far other- 
wise. 

" ' There is another remark which should be made. This nation, 
in its improvements, scliools, churches, and public spirit pertaining 
to the great cause of benevolence, is but an infant. This must be 
remembered by us all, especially if we would try to manage their 
civil matters. Thirty years here cannot be equal, in their religious 
influence on slavery, to two hundred years in the Carolinas. The 
past experience of missionaries among the Indian tribes, who have 
meddled much with the civil and political concerns of their red 
brethren, has not been encouraging, either in its influejice on their 
own minds or those of the people. Such a course may lead to the 
formation of worldly, instead of heavenly attachments ; or, on the 
other hand, worldly and wicked animosities and jealousies may 
arise, 

" ' Besides, the good results to individuals of a temporal nature 
which we might look for, if successful, when we have done our 
utmost, appear to be of minor value, and of a doubtful tenure, when 
compared with those of a spiritual kind, offered in the Gospel, and 
which we are bound to promote at all times. Shall we not then 
attend to this great work, which was made ours by the Head of the 
Church ? 

" ' We feel safe because we are sure that we are right, when we 
can make the Apostles our guide and example. They were often 
in a situation so nearly akin to ours, in this very respect, that all 
human wisdom would have failed them. They needed the aid of 
inspiration, which they received, and under its influence they wrote 
as they did for the common benefit of others, wherever slavery 
might prevail. Their instructions and examples we feel bound to 
regard. 

" ' We should be careful how we risk the spiritual interests com- 
mitted to us, by attempting to manage worldly ones, which are not 
given us by the Savior. 



112 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

" ' These are some of our views and thoughts whieh we wished to 
submit to your consideration. The inquiry may now be made, 
Wherein do we, as a mission, differ from our Patrons and Coun- 
sellors ? We apprehend that the ditierence may rehite chielly to 
slavery as a civil institution. But whether it be so or not, we sup- 
pose that a difference does somewhere exist ; and yet it^ has been 
formed honestly, and with the exercise of a good conscience. It 
seems to us to"^be an instance of an honest and real difference of 
opinion, among men who have a common and a good object in 
view ; men, too, Avho love the kingdom of the Savior more than 
any earthly object, and who retain full confidence in each other's 
motives, piety and religious faith, and who are united in their 
views of the greatness and extent of the evils of slavery and the 
desirableness of having them all done away. But they do not 
agree as to the mode of operation in all respects. 

" ' The question which now arises is, Avhether this difference of 
sentiment is of that kind and nature which calls for mutual for- 
bearance, patience, study of the Bible and prayer, or for something 
else ? It appears to us very desirable, if practicable, to continue our 
labors as heretofore, and rely on God for his continued blessing. This 
is not the first instance in which the people of God have found them- 
selves thus situated, and especially those who dwell amidst slavery, 
as thousands of them do this day, and may for ages to come. As 
slavery with various modifications has, for a long time, had an 
existence in the Church of God, it is proper for us to inquire how 
the servants of the Lord in " old time " were taught by him, as 
well as how they conducted in regard to it. May it not be agreeable 
to the Head of the Church that his people labor for him in the 
exercise of mutual forbearance and love, while proclaiming stead- 
fastly his own word and his rules for all our relative and social 
duties, trusting in God for the safe and best result 1 

" ' There are interests here dear to us as life itself, and there are 
responsibilities of great weight. Many of them are connected with 
the subject matter of this communication, which reach far beyond 
ourselves and our families, and the i^resent generation of Choctaws 
and their friends. AVe feel them keenly, whenever our thoughts 
turn upon the churches and schools God has gathered in this land 
through our feeble instrumentality. These interests we have not 
the power to sustain, nor the wisdom to guide. Nor can we under- 
stand every thing connected with this subject, and especially those 
whidi are at a distance, and which press with most weight on the 
Prudential Committee. We cannot know and feel them as you do. 
And we entreat you, if you find that we do not sufiiciently identify 
ourselves with your iilans, views and counsels, not to think it 
strange, or as indicating a loss of confidence, or a rebellious temper. 
It is a long and weary time, and one too of many clianges, during 
which we have been absent. We have been often told that a great 
change has taken place at the North, and that we have not kept 
pace with this change. It may be that we have not ; yet, when- 
ever we lay our hands on our hearts, we feel the pulsations of 
brotherhood as strong as ever. 

" ' This people is a dependent one. Our mission is still so. We 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 113 

have made but a promising commencement in our work. Help, in 
missionaries, teachers and supplies, will he needed for years to 
come, to continue what is already commenced, as well as to occupy 
new portions of our field. The Lord's liand is to be acknowledged 
with humility and reverence in all our ways. He may wish to effect 
some great change. But will he not go before us in a pillar of 
cloud by day, and of fire by night ? Maj' we not look for some 
plain indication of his will, before we determine upon a change that 
shall greatly affect this mission 1 If it should be his blessed will 
that we cast all our cares on him, cease all our anxieties, and 
engage and continue with still more love and zeal and Avith greater 
success in our labors, we shall greatly rejoice. And if he will so 
order the events of his providence, that we shall never fail here- 
after to Avelcome, as formerly, new fellow-laborers from the North ; 
and so that the streams of charity which have flowed so long and 
with such rich blessings from that good land, shall never dry up ; 
and so that the name of the mission, as well as our own names and 
those of our sisters here, shall not be stricken from the list where 
they have long stood with those of other dear brethren and sisters 
gone to other heathen lands, and with the Fathers and Brethren of 
the Board, who meet in council yearly for our good and the Avorld's 
salvation, then our joy Avill be full. We need not write more. 

".'After reviewing what we have written upon the several 
topics, viz : neutralitij, our position, history of slave labor, scriptural 
instruction, civil relation, differences in sentiment, and future course, and 
after calling to mind our prayers and labors, our obligations to the 
Savior, our relations to 3'ou and to this people, we wish, so far as 
practicable, to lay the whole over upon your arms, and we do refer 
the great question, as to what must be done, to you, with entire 
confidence in your wisdom, the uprightness of your purpose, and 
your wish to act in the matter as will, in your judgment, best secure 
the great and important interests at stake. 

" ' And that wisdom from the great Head of the Chtirch may ever 
guide you and the exectitive officers of the Board, will be the 
prayer of your brethren in our glorious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 
C. Kingsbury, C. C. Copelaxd, 

Alfred Wright, David Breed, Jr., 

Cyrus Byixgtox, H. K. Copelaxd, 

E. HoTCiiKix, D. H. WixsHip. 

" ' I Avould cheerfully unite with my brethren in the last para- 
graph, in referring what is to be done to the wisdom of the Bru- 
dential Committee. 

J. C. Strong.' 

" To this communication, the following answer was made, by 
the direction of the Prudential Committee : — 

"'Missionary House, Boston, June 22, 1848. 
" ' To the Members of the Choctaw Mission : 

" * Dear Brethren : — Your letter of March 31 was received on the 
5tli of May. It was my wish to lay it before the Prudential Com- 



114 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

mitteo, tofretlier with my own report on the relations of the Chero- 
kee and Choctaw missions to the subject of slavery, at the earliest 
opportunity ; but my ordinary duties have been so urgent, since I 
returned from the Indian country, and my liealth has been so poor, 
that I could not complete the necessary preparation till within the 
past four or five days. At our last Committee meeting, however, 
held on the 20th instant, the matter was taken into consideration ; 
and I now sit down to give you the result. 

" ' Your kind expressions of attachment and confidence we most 
cordially and fully reciprocate. AVe love the Choctaw mission. 
Towards the older^members, especially, those who have toiled faith- 
fully and successfully for twenty -five or thirty years,_ we entertain 
feelings such as few missionaries even have awakened in our hearts. 
It has given me the highest pleasure, as a humble individual, to 
bear testimony to the integrity and devotedness with which you 
have labored, and the signal success with which God has crowned 
your eiforts ; and while life lasts, I shall cherish the remembrance 
of my brief sojourn among you. 

" ' But none will be more ready than yourselves to admit that 
errors of judgment may have occurred in the history of your mis- 
sion. And in regard to the particular subject discussed in your 
letter, you will concede, we doubt not, a peculiar liability to such 
errors. Your circumstances have been difficult and embarrassing 
from the first ; and it was not to be expected that you should avoid 
mistakes in every instance. You will not be surprised, therefore, 
when we say (what, indeed, you seem to anticipate) that there are 
principles involved in your mode of procedure from which we are 
constrained to dissent. With that frankness which belongs to the 
relation we sustain to you, and in a spirit which we hope our 
gracious Master will not disapprove, we present our own views ; 
from which you will be able to infer the nature and extent of the 
difference between us. We take this course, without particularly 
noticing all the points in your letter, because in so doing we hope to 
exhibit our sentiments in a more orderly and intelligible manner. 

" 'But here let us guard your minds against a possible misappre- 
hension of our principles. 

" ' 1. We do not claim any direct control over the churches which 
you have gathered ; nor shall we ever approach them with the lan- 
guage of authority or dictation. Most happy are we to acknowledge 
them as churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can suppose a 
case, indeed, in which we should feel it our duty to address them as 
brethren, beloved in the Lord, calling to our aid whatever power 
there is in argument, or appeal, or expostulation, as circumstances 
might demand. And we can suppose still another case, in which 
we might be constrained, by the sacredness of the trust committed 
to us, to withhold that pecuniary aid it has given us, in past years, 
so much pleasure to afford. But in all this we should recognize 
them as having all the privileges and immunities which appertain 
to any body of Christians in any part of the world. 

" ' 2. We do not wish you, either individually or collectively, to 
bring any influence to bear upon those churches, or the community 
in which you dwell, except such as belongs to the ministerial office. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 115 

Your churches, as well as yourselves, beiug in connection witli the 
General Assembly of the Pi'esbyterian church, (meeting annually,) 
we expect you to chiim only those prerogatives which are conceded 
to i)astors under the jurisdiction of that body, so far as they are 
suited to your circumstances. The rights of your sessions and your 
churches must be duly regarded ; for no apparent good can compen- 
sate for the injury done to a fundamental principle. You may argue 
with these brethren whom you have begotten in the Gospel, making 
your ai)peal to reason and to Scripture ; but when you have ex- 
hausted your powers of persuasion, they must be left to act accord- 
ing to their own views of duty, being answerable only to the higher 
judicatories of your churcli, and to their Lord and IVIaster. In what 
circumstances, and for wliat reasons, you may be allowed or re- 
quired to withdraw from them, is a question which we have no 
occasion to consider at the present time. 

" * 3. We do not design to infringe in the least, by what we shall 
say in this letter, upon ijour rights as ministers of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. From him, primaril}'^ and mainly, you hold your commis- 
sion ; to him, primarily and mainly, you are responsible for the 
manner in which you discharge the duties of your office. AYe speak 
to you as brethren, engaged in a common work, under the eye of 
a common Master. Upon one point, which will come up in this 
discussion, we might address you in the language of authority ; but 
even in regard to this question, as well as others, we choose to 
approach you with suggestions and arguments. AYe ask you to 
give them, as we doubt not you will, a candid and prayerful consid- 
eration. Perhaps we shall yet see eye to eye. And if this may 
not be, we will then raise the inquiry, "What further shall be 
done ? " 

" 'Before proceeding to speak of the course which it is proper for 
missionaries to follow in a slaveholding community, it will be expe- 
dient to advert, for a moment, to the character of the system which 
has given rise to this discussion. And here, we i)resume, your 
views are in substantial accordance with our own. In your letter, 
indeed, you refer to the report adopted by the Board at its meeting 
in Brooklyn (1845) in terms of decided approbation. "We thought 
it was not in our power," you say, " to express in so clear a man- 
ner our own leading princi])les on that whole subject." But that 
document speaks of "the wickedness of the system" of slavery, 
" the unrighteousness of the principles on which the whole system 
is based, and the violation of the natural rights of man, the debase- 
ment, wickedness and misery it involves, and whicli are in fact wit- 
nessed, to a greater or less extent, wherever it exists ; " and it 
quotes with approval the following declaration of one whom we all 
love and honor : " Yiewed in all its bearings, it is a tremendous 
evil ; its destructive influence is seen on the morals of the master 
and the slave ; it sweeps away those barriers which every civilized 
community has erected to protect the purity and chastity of the 
family relation." Thus far, then, we are perfectly agreed. Domes- 
tic slavery is at war with the rights of man, and opposed to the 
principles of the Gospel. 

" ' But you will say, perhaps, that a distinction should be made 



110 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

between the system itself and the persons implicated therein, be- 
tween slavery and slaveholding. We acknowledge the justice of 
this distinction ; and, because ot its importance in this discussion, 
■we will briefly state our view^s in relation to it. 

"'A system of slavery, like that which we are now considering, 
we believe to be always and every where sinful; but we do not be- 
lieve that every act 'of slaveliolding is sinful. A person may come 
into this relation, and may continue in it for a time, involuntarily. 
He may Avish to put an end to it, and may actually put an end to it, 
as soon as he can. Such an one incurs no guilt Miiatever. His 
purpose was always right ; and the first act which he had the power 
to put forth, bearing upon the continuance of the relation, was also 
right. 

" 'But a man may have the power to free his slaves, and yet not 
do it, out of regard to their highest good. He honestly hopes, we 
will suppose, that their day of freedom will soon come ; he is doing, 
as he thinks, all that he can to hasten that day ; in the mean time, 
he omits nothing that a considerate and humane master can devise 
for their temporal and spiritual advantage. Now, it is possible that 
he has misjudged in deferiing emancipation. Perhaps it would 
have been better for the slaves to receive their liberty at once ; per- 
haps there were other considerations that should have been decisive. 
If so, what is his position ? The answer would seem to be two- 
fold. 1. The continuance of the relation is wrong ; but, 2, the mas- 
ter may stand acquitted in the sight of God, because he was influ- 
enced solely by benevolent motives. Just as the selling of ardent 
spirits, in the days of our common ignorance on the subject of tem- 
perance, was clearly wrong; and yet many good men, never imag- 
ining that they were acting contrary to the law of love, engaged in 
the traffic. The external character of an act is one thing ; its internal 
character is quite another thing. A man may conscientiously do 
that which is injurious in its tendency ; as, on the other hand, he 
may, with a bad motive and purpose, do that which is innocent or 
beneficial in its tendency. 

" 'As we pass from such slaveholding as we have just considered 
to that Avhich is manifestly selfish, we find a tract of debateable 
ground, on which we have no occasion to tarry. Sooner or later, 
we shall come to that mournfully large class of cases, in respect to 
which no distinction or qualification can be made. We would not 
speak too confidently ; still we fear that the owners of slaves gene- 
rally regard and treat them as property, making their own advan- 
tage, and not the good of those who are in bonds, the grand objects 
which they keep in view. And we cannot suppress the apprehen- 
sion, that this is true even in that community which has shared so 
largely, through your labors, in the benefits conferred by Christian 
missions. 

" ' I have already said, that we regard domestic slavery as at war 
with the rights of man, and opposed to the principles of the Gospel. 
We do not claim that either Christ or his Apostles expressly con- 
demned this system in the New Testament. But we do claim that 
they said and did much that, by fair implication, bears stronoly 
against it ; while, on the other hand, they said and did nothing that. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 117 

by fair implication, gives it the least sanction. Suppose, for ex- 
ample, that brief but comprehensive injunction of our Savior, 
" Wliatsoever ye Avould that men should do to you, do ye even so 
to them," to be carried out to its legitimate results. AVhat -would 
become of slavery ? In all its essential features, it would cease at 
once. Whatever might be the result as to the legal relation, its 
spirit Avould die. And then the Scriptures invest every man with 
privileges and responsibilities, which are utterly inconsistent with 
his remaining in a state of servitude. The slave cannot receive the 
fruit of his toil, according to the divine arrangement. He can 
neither enjoy all the rights nor perform all the duties of a husband 
or parent, as set forth in the Bible. He cannot develop those intel- 
lectual powers which, as seen in the light of revelation, are a trea- 
sure beyond all price. Above all, he cannot, in most cases, have 
that untrammeled access to God and his Holy Woi'd, which is worth 
more to him, as a lost yet immortal and accountable being, than any 
thing else. 

" ' It is not our design to go into any extended argument on this 
point ; and still it may be well to make a passing allusion to the 
inference which is often drawn from the injunctions in the New 
Testament, addressed to masters and servants. The question is, — 
" Do these injunctions concede or recognize the right of property in 
a human being ? " Now, it does seem to us, that every thing which 
is said to masters and servants is consistent with the hypothesis, 
that the Apostles regarded the general relation as unnatural and 
sinful. Any one at the present day who believes the system to be 
wrong, and labors, however diligently, for its termination, may with 
perfect propriety use the very same language. Besides, if these 
directions of which we are speaking prove that slavery is right 
now, they prove that this institution, as it then existed in the Eoman 
empire, giving the master the power of life and death even, was 
also right ; a proposition, Ave presume, that no one will undertake to 
defend. 

" ' But why did not the Apostles directly and unequivocally 
affirm the sinfulness of slavery ? Why did they not insist upon the 
duty of emancii)ation 1 Simply because (if we may venture to give 
an opinion) they saw that such a course, in their circumstances, 
would not soonest and best extirpate the evil. And for this policy 
they found the amplest auth.ority in the dealings of God with his 
covenant people, and in the life of Christ. 

" ' To us, then, it seems very clear, that slavery is opposed to the 
principles of the Gospel. What line of conduct, then, shall the mis- 
sionary pursue, when he is brought into contact with it ? The 
answer, to be complete and satisfactory, must embrace the folloAving 
topics ; namely, the preaching of the Gospel, the iustniction (jiven to 
slaveliolding converts, the admission of this class of persons to the church, 
and the treatment they receive in the church. 

" ' Th<^ Preachinr/ of the d'ospel. 
" ' It is the duty of the missionar}', Ave suppose, to declare "all 
the counsel of God." He may not, in his expositions of the divine 
will, restrict himself to those forjns of transgression which are 



118 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

specifically denoimced in the Scriptures. What pastor thinks of 
placing himself on this narrow basis ? Xo. The man who carries 
the Gospel to tlie heathen must keep his eye always open; and 
whatever he sees around him that is contrary to this Gospel,_ he 
must consider as tailing within the purview of his high commission. 
We do not say ivhen, or ichere, or how he shall bring the truth to bear 
upon any sin. Whether he shall declare his testimony against it 
to-day or to-morrow, next week or next year ; whether he shall do 
it in the sanctuary, by the Avay side, or in the home of the wrong- 
doer ; whether he shah do it in the spirit of John the Baptist, or 
with the unseen approaches of Nathan the prophet, or with the 
melting earnestness of Paul, or in the gentler tones of John ; 
whether he shall do it by marching directly on the citadel of error, 
or proceeding first against the outworks ; all these are questions for 
the missionary. He" has been sent forth because he is thought to 
possess the wisdom, integrity and zeal which are needful for this 
very work; and far be ilTfrom us to encroach upon his lawful pre- 
rogative. But that the work must be done, in some way, and at 
some time and place ; that it must be done in the name and the fear 
of the God of missions, is to us very clear. 

" ' Prom this general law for the conduct of missions, we think 
that slavery can claim no exemption. You may say, indeed, that 
the Apostles did not directly assail it in their writings, because, ac- 
coi'ding to our own showing, there was a better way. But it does 
not follow, by any means, that they never opened their lips in 
denunciation of the monstrous iniquity of Roman servitude. Still 
less does it follow that the ministers of Christ are never to be at 
liberty, in any state of society, or in any age of the Avorld, to raise 
their voice against the enslaving of their fellow men. The example 
of the Apostles, as we believe, goes to the extent of constituting 
the missionary the judge of the time and mode of exhibiting the 
truths of the Gospel in their relation to this system ; but it cannot 
justify him, as we think, in closing his mouth tor ever. 

" ' In the commencement of a mission, as also in tiie commence- 
ment of the pastoral relation, it may be proper to say little or 
nothing respecting certain evils Avhich are found to exist. A dif- 
ferent course, indeed, might shut every door of usefulness for a 
long series of years. But when the servants of the Lord Jesus 
Christ have obtained an acknowledged standing in the community ; 
when their character and their aims have begun to be appreciated ; 
and when their influence, as teachers of a new religion, has become 
an established fact, they may cast aside something of their reserve. 
And if the great Head of ^the Church gives them tokens of his 
ftivor, manifest and marked, if churches are gathered, and converts 
are multiplied ; if all the departments of missionary labor are 
carried forAvard with success, they may venture upon a still bolder 
course of action. 

Xow, we will not say at what stage in your history it became 
expedient to exhibit, with that wisdom which is profitable to direct, 
the legitimate bearing of the Gospel upon slavery. Nor does it 
seem at all important to go into that inquiry. But when we con- 
sider the age of your mission, its remarkable success, the strong 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 119 

hold it has gained upon the Choctaw Nation, it does appear to ns, 
that if tlic time has not yet come to hold up, in some Avay, the great 
law of love in its obvious relation to the subject, we may well ask, 
" When will that time come ? " 

" ' What you have said respecting " slavery as a civil institution," 
has been duly considered. We are fully aware that, being " in a civil 
respect foreigners and tenants at Avill under the officers of our gov- 
ernment," you have neither political rights nor political responsi- 
bilities. But it so happens that this institution has its moral rela- 
tions. Go where you may, and do what you will, in your own 
appropriate work, it lies directly across your path. It is an anti- 
Christian system, and hence you have a right to deal with it 
accordingly. True, it is regulated by law ; but it does not, for this 
reason, lose its moral relations. Suppose polygamy or intemperance 
were hedged in by legal enactments. Could you not speak against 
them as crying evils 1 We are grieved to hear that the Choctaws 
have a law, which practicall}' debars the slave from all direct access 
to the Word of God, without the consent of the owner. ])id you 
never bear your testimony against the wrongfulness of shutting out 
this class of persons from the " lively oracles " ? 

"'Instruction of Slavclioldlng Converts. 

" ' This topic might be considered as embraced in "the preaching 
'of the Gospel;" but I prefer to give it a separate notice. In the 
instruction imparted to new converts, the teachings of Christianity 
are presented in circumstances peculiarly interesting and favorable, 
and may, on that account, take a wider range and extend to a greater 
variety of subjects than is customary on other occasions. 

" ' It would seem that the aim of the missionar}', in his intercourse 
with a recent convert, should be two-fold. 1. To ascertain the 
actual state of his aflections ; whether they are renewed or unre- 
newed. 2. To give him clear and explicit information on all the 
great questions of Christian duty. The latter is important, not only 
because his life should be conformed, as perfectly as may be, to the 
only true standard of action, but because the spirit with Avhich he 
receives the principles of the Gospel will show how much reason he 
has to call himself a new creature in Christ Jesus. 

" ' And if this recent convert be connected with the system of 
slavery, Avhat can be more natural and proper than a discreet and 
friendly inquiry into the nature of his views in regard to this insti- 
tution 1 The missionarv may and should, unquestionably, watch his 
time ; he may and should leave the impression that he is governed, 
m Avhat he says, by considerations that will commend themselves 
to any man's conscience ; but in all ordinary cases, as Ave suppose, 
he may give utterance, at some time and in some Avay, to the opin- 
ions which he himself has derived from God's Holy Word. The 
mind of this new learner of Christian truth, if a genuine disciple, 
or a sincere inquirer, is peculiarl}^ open and susceptible to the teach- 
ings of his spiritual guide. At what other moment, indeed, during 
his Avhole life, can he be approached on this theme with so much 
promise of good ? And if he cannot bear the gentle and skillful 
probing of his honored father in the Gospel, how little of the spirit 
of Christ must there be in his heart ! 



120 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

" ' Admission of Slaveholders to the Church. 

" ' The Board, at its annual meeting at Brooklyn, adopted two 
general principles, which are applicable to all its missions. 1. The 
ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper cannot be scripturally 
and rightfully denied to those converts who give credible evidence 
of piety. 2. The missionaries, in connection with the churches (if 
any) which they have gathered, are the sole judges of the suffi- 
ciency of this evidence. In the application of these principles to 
the case before them, they say that slaveholding does not always, 
in their opinion, involve individual guilt in sucli a manner as to ex- 
clude every person implicated therein from Christian fellowship. 
This conclusion seems to flow irresistibly from the distinctions 
already made in this letter, in regard to the character of slavehold- 
ing. If a person may be the legal owner of slaves, and yet be free 
from all blame in the sight of God, then it is -clearly wrong to say 
that no slaveholder shall be admitted to the Church of Christ. 

" ' But the Board could never have intended that all belonging to 
this class, and yet applying for this high privilege, should be re- 
ceived without inquiry as to their views and feelings in regard to 
slavery. Indeed, it seems to us that such an inquiry is, in all cases, 
fundamental. Here is a man involved in a system that is unchris- 
tian and sinful, and yet requesting admission to the table of our 
blessed Lord. Must he not prove himself free from the guilt of that 
system, before he can make good his title to a place among the fol- 
lowers of Christ ? 

" ' Perhaps he can show that his being the owner of slaves is in- 
voluntary on his part; perhaps he can show that he retains the 
legal relation at their request and for their advantage ; perhaps he 
can show that he utterly rejects and repudiates the idea of holding 
I)roperty in his fellow-men. If so, let the facts be disclosed, and let 
him have the benefit of them. But, on the other hand, it may ap- 
pear that, while professing to have the love of Christ in his heart, 
he holds and treats those for whom Christ died with a selfish spirit 
and for selfish purposes, thus showing that he has not compassed 
the length and breadth of the law of love, and, therefore, showing 
that he needs to be more perfectly taught in the right way of the 
Lord. For admitting such an one to the privileges of the people of 
God, especially in the advanced stage at Avhich your mission has 
arrived, we know of no warrant Avhatever. 

" ' In what particular mode or form the missionary shall proceed 
to elicit the facts to which Ave have just alluded, Ave do not say. 
That he may feel himself greatly embarrassed, at times, by the 
question, we can readily see, especially if there has been none of 
the preliminary instruction imparted which has been already men- 
tioned. But, if he "lack Avisdom, let him ask of God, Avho giveth 
to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him." 
It is not the design of our great Leader to carrA^ forward the mis- 
sionary Avork Avithout the trying of our faith. We must expect to 
encounter caste, polygamy, oppression, and the opposition of the 
poAvers that be. We must look for a contest with the brahmin and 
the moollah ; with gigantic forms of superstition and error ; with 



IN RELATION TO SLATERY. 121 

spiritual wickedness in high places. But if we go to Ilim who is 
faithful to his promises, and take shelter under his wings, we shall 
be safe. 

" ' In all that we have now said, jou will understand that we 
hare kept constantly in mind the circumstances in which you are 
placed. The power of admitting or rejecting candidates for the 
ordinances of the Gospel does not rest exclusively with you ; and, 
as we have heretofore remarked, the prerogatives of your sessions 
must be duly regarded. But there are certain tilings which you 
may do ; there are certain rights which you may exercise ; there 
are certain responsibilities which are inseparable from your office. 
It is to tlie extent of these rights and responsibilities only that we 
desire you to go. 

" ' Treatment of Slavelioldlng Church Members. 

" ' The principles Avhich we have already submitted to your con- 
sideration suggest the general course which seems to be proper in 
dealing with this class of communicants. If there are any in your 
churches at the present time whose views on the subject of slavery 
are inconsistent vrith the laAv of love, it would appear to be your 
office to bring them, so far as in you lies, to entertain sentiments 
which are scriptural and correct. Your attention, you will remem- 
ber, was called to this point in INEr. Greene's letter to your mission, 
dated November 19, ISio. In that communication, he said : — " It 
seems specially important to train your church members to act out, 
in an exemplary manner, the spirit of the Gospel toward the en- 
slaved, emancipating them where duty to them admits of that; and 
where it does not, taking special pains to promote their social and 
religious welfare, and prepare them as moral and accountable beings, 
hastening forward to the retributions of the eternal world, for the 
holiness and blessedness of heaven." 

" ' In tlie application of discipline to this class of persons, we con- 
ceive it to be your duty to set j'our faces against all overt acts which 
are manifestly unchristian and sinful in their character. Denying, 
as we do, that there can be, morally and scripturally, any right of 
property in any human being, unless it be in consequence of 
crime, and holding that the slave is always to be treated as a man, 
we suppose that whatever is done in plain and obvious contraven- 
tion of these doctrines, may properly receive the notice of your- 
selves and your sessions. Hence, if the master treat his slaves with 
inhumanity and oppression ; if he keep from them the knowledge 
of God's holy will ; if he sell them as articles of merchandise ; if 
he disregard the sanctity of the marriage relation ; if he trifle with 
the affections of parents, and set at nought the claims of children 
on their natural protectors; and in all analogous cases, he fairly 
brings himself within the reach of that power which is given to the 
Church for the edifying of the body of Christ. 

" ' But we will not enlarge upon this topic. We have said enough 
to indicate the general direction of our views and wishes in relation 
to it. And still we cannot forbear an allusion to the exceeding de- 
sirableness of your pursuing such a course as shall deliver the 
Choctaw churches from all connection with slavery. For a whole 
6 



122 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

generation, the Gospel has been preached to this tribe of Indians j 
and during the greater part of this period, the work of the Lord has 
greatly prospered. You have a large and increasing body of com- 
municants. You have schools of great interest and promise. Civi- 
lization and general intelligence are making steady advances. With 
these facts before us, is it too much to ask, " May not these churches 
soon be freed from all participation in a system that is so contrary 
to the spirit of the Gospel, and so regardless of the rights of man ? " 
We wish, indeed, that a much more desirable end Avere attainable. 
Most ardently do we pray that the -whole nation may be delivered 
from this "tremendous evil." And Ave reiterate the language of 
Mr. Greene, as contained in the letter above referred to, in which 
he stated it to be the desire of the Board and of the Committee 
that "you should do Avhatever you can, as discreet Christian men 
and missionaries of the Lord Jesus, to give the Indians correct 
views on this subject, and to induce them to take measures, as 
speedily as possible, to bring this system of wrong and oppression 
to an end." 

" * Employment of Slaves by the Missian. 

" ' As the views of the Committee on this subject have been here- 
tofore communicated to you, it Avill not be necessary to go into any 
discussion at the present time. In February, 1836, the expediency 
of buying slaves, with their consent, and with the understanding 
and agreement that they should be allowed to Avork out their pur- 
chase money, according to the practice of the mission at that time, 
w^as fully considered ; and it Avas resolved " to instruct the missiona- 
ries among the South- Western Indians " " to enter into no more 
such contracts," and to relinquish all claim to the benefit of any 
previous arrangement of the kind. In the folloAving month, the ex- 
pediency of permitting the missionaries to hire slaves Avas taken into 
consideration; and it Avas resolved to be expedient for them "to 
dispense altogether with slave labor." Of the action of the Com- 
mittee in both cases, you Avere duly apprised. Noav, it Avas not the 
design of the Committee to affirm that in no possible state of things 
should you be allowed to hire slaves ; for Ave can conceive of cir- 
cumstances where it may be proper, just as Ave are at liberty to per- 
form "Avorks of necessity and mercy" on the Sabbath. But ex- 
cept in cases of manifest necessity, Ave deem it altogether inexpe- 
dient to resort to this species of labor. And it also enters into our 
ideas of this necessity, that it is only temporary. 

" ' It is with profound regret, therefore, that Ave have learned how 
many hired slaA^es are now in the service of the ChoctaAv mission. 
We readily acquit you of any plan or purpose to disregard our 
knoAvn Avishes. We cheerfully accept the excuse you offer, namely, 
that the boarding-school established in 184:3, in consequence of the 
arrangement made with the ChoctaAV government, in your vieAV 
made such assistance necessary ; and that for this reason you sup- 
posed the Committee must have assented to its employment. Still, 
Ave must frankly say, that Ave never intended, by agreeing to the 
plan proposed on the part of the ChoctaAvs, to sanction or authorize 
the practice which Ave now find so prevalent among you. And had 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 123 

the Committee known, when the subject was under consideration, 
that the hiring of slaves must follow the adoption of this plan, as a 
necessary and permanent result, they would not have engaged in 
the present boarding-school system. 

" ' We feel ourselves not a little embarrassed by our position. 
The engagement with the Choctaw government has some fifteen 
years to run, and yet we do not feel willing to be a party to the 
hiring of slaves for this long period. By so doing, as it seems to us, 
we countenance and encourage the system. We make this species 
of labor more profitable to the owner ; at the same time tliat we put 
it in his power, if he will, to plead our example to justify or excuse 
the relation. In this state of things, it appears to be our duty to ask 
you, first of all, to inquire once more into the supposed necessity of 
this practice, and to see if slave labor cannot in some Avay be dis- 
pensed with. And if you can discover no method by which a 
change can be effected, we submit for your consideration, whether 
it be not desirable to request the Choctaw government to release us 
from our engagement in respect to the boarding-schools. It is with 
pain that we present this alternative ; but such are our views of 
duty in the case, that we cannot suggest a difterent course. 

" ' The sentiments of the Committee have now been frankly and 
fully expressed, on the different topics which it has seemed im- 
portant to discuss at the present time. We doubt not you will 
receive them in the spirit which has characterized our intercourse 
in past years, and will take them into consideration at as early a day 
as practicable. You are already aware that much interest is felt in 
this question by the friends of the Board ; and there is a general 
desire that the relations of your mission to the subject of slavery 
may be put upon a broad scriptural basis as soon as possible. If 
you can reply to this communication before the next annual meet- 
ing, and especially if you can declare your acquiescence in the 
views herein presented, and your readiness to act in accordance 
with them, so that we can announce the fact to those who shall 
have come together on that occasion, you will give us much 
pleasure by so doing. 

'• ' Praying that God may be with you at all times, and give you 
wisdom and grace as you shall need, 

" * I remain, dear brethren, very affectionately and truly yours, 

"'S. B. Treat, 
" ' Sec'y of the A. B. C. F. M.' 

" The reply to the letter of the Cherokee mission was as fol- 
lows : — 

"'MissioxARY House, Boston, June 30, 1848. 
" ' To THE Members of the Cherokee Mission : 

" 'Dear Brethren : — Your letter of March 21 was duly received. 
You have doubtless expected a reply before this, and I regret that 
there has been any necessity for delay. As the brethren among the 
Choctaws, however, adopted a course similar to yours, and drew up 
a letter, after I left them on my return, expressive of their senti- 



124 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

ments in regard to the subject which you have discussed so fully, it 
seemed desirable tJiat the relations of both missions to slavery should 
be considered at the same time. But it so happened that I was not 
able to bring the whole subject before the Prudential Committee till 
the 20th instant; on which occasion I was directed to communicate 
the views entertained by them, both to the Choctaw brethren and 
yourselves. 

" * In replying to the former, it has been found necessary to dis- 
cuss all the topics which are brought before us by your letter ; and 
though we do not regard the two missions as occupying j^recisely 
the same ground (your opinions being obviously more in accordance 
with those of the Committee), it has seemed unnecessary at this 
time to address a distinct and independent answer to you. I am 
authorized by the Committee, therefore, to send you a copy of the 
letter which has been written to the Choctaw mission, as containing 
a full expression of their views on all the questions which appear to 
groAv out of the relations of the two missions to the subject of sla- 
very at the present time. You are requested to examine the prin- 
ciples set forth in this communication, so far as they are applicable 
to your circumstances, and to forward your reply with as little delay 
as practicable. 

" ' In expressing your warm attachment to the Board, you have 
only given utterance to sentiments which we have uniformly be- 
lieved to exist in your hearts. And permit us to say in return, that 
we have always taken a strong interest in j-our mission. Its his- 
tory, so full of hope and disappointment, of success and disaster, we 
can never forget. For the members of the mission, those in partic- 
ular who have long shared in the joys and sorrows of the Cherokees, 
we feel the highest respect ; and in them, as honest and conscien- 
tious laborers in the vineyard of our common Master, we have entire 
conliclence. 

" ' That God may make your way plain before you, and may keep 
you to the end, is the prayer of 

" ' Your affectionate brother and fellow-laborer in the Gospel, 

" ' S. B. Treat, 
" ' Sec'y of the A. B. C. F. M.' 

" After these documents had been read to the Board, they 
were referred to a Committee, consisting of Dr. Beman, Rev. 
Albert Barnes, Dr. DeWitt, Dr. Hawes, Judge Darling, Dr. 
Magle, and Henry White, Esq. This Committee subsequently 
presented their report ; which, having been discussed at some 
length and amended, was adopted by the Board. The amended 
report is as follows : — 

" ' The Committee to whom were referred the papers relating to the 
subject of slavery in connection with the Clierokee and Choctaw 
missions, have carefully deliberated on the same, and beg leave to 
submit the following report. 

" ' The documents put into the hands of the Committee, and which 
they have examined, are the following : The " report on the relation 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 125 

of the Cherokee and Choctaw missions to slavery/' being an account 
of a visit made by the Kev. S. B. Treat to these stations ; a letter 
from tlie Cherokee mission, on the same subject ; a letter from the 
Choctaw mission, on the same ; a letter to the Choctaw mission, by 
Rev. S. B. Treat, one of the Secretaries, communicating to the 
missionaries the views of the Prudential Committee on this whole 
subject; a brief letter from the same Secretary to the Cherokee 
mission, referring the brethren of that mission to the last-named 
letter, as containing the views of the Prudential Committee, on the 
subject of inquiry ; together with the report of the Prudential Com- 
mittee, submitting the above-named documents to this meeting of 
the Board. 

" ' The subject to which these papers relate is one of intense inter- 
est in our day, and is becoming more and more so, in all its rela- 
tions. The Board has not been unmindful of its own relations to 
this mattei', in times past ; nor will it probably be, in its careful 
deliberations and circumspect action, in time to come. It is one of 
those great questions wliich seem destined to awaken the interests 
and sympathies of a world. Christians and others are beginning to 
feel this. 

" ' Your Committee express their cordial approbation of the fidelity 
with which the Prudential Committee have discharged this part of 
their trust. The report of the Rev. Mr. Treat of his visit to the 
Cherokee and Choctaw missions, embodies a vast fund of informa- 
tion, which we have all needed, and which cannot fail, as it shall be 
diffused, of doing great good. This paper should be extensively 
known and read. No agent could have executed this mission more 
wisely, or more kindly, than your Secretary has done it ; and it may 
be hoped that practical and permanent good will grow out of it la 
many ways. It has brought to the Prudential Committee, and to 
the Board, information wiiich we needed ; and, especially, of the 
practical working of the system of missions, in some of the relations 
of life, on which Ave have not been very well informed. This whole 
report, your Committee believe, will bear scrutiny and analysis. 

" ' Of the two letters from the missions in question, your Commit- 
tee need not give an opinion, for the following reasons. They have 
been particularly examined in the communication written by order 
of the Prudential Committee ; tliese letters are only a part of a cor- 
respondence which has not yet closed; and some things therein 
stated may be modified by the views since expressed by the Pru- 
dential Committee. These letters, your Committee take pleasure in 
saying, breathe an excellent Christian spirit. 

" 'Nor do your Committee feel themselves called upon to give an 
opinion on every position and every sentiment to be found in the 
last letter addi^essed to these two missions. We refrain from a criti- 
cal examination of it in this report, because it is a part of an unfin- 
ished correspondence ; and no final action, as your Committee appre- 
hend, can, with any propriety, be had upon it at the present time. 
If it were to be examined in all its statements, and fully discussed 
by the Board, it is probable that some might think that it goes too 
fjir ; and others, that it does not go far enough, in relation to the 
evil of which it treats. But your Committee are unanimous in the 



126 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

opinion, that this is not the time for a discussion of its subject-mat- 
ter. It is now pending in the deliberations of those missions. 
Speaking of this document, the Prudential Committee say, " The 
answer of the brethren has not yet arrived. Both missions had pre- 
viously appointed meetings to be held simultaneously with the 
annual meeting of the Board ; and it is presumed that they have the 
subject now under consideration." 

" ' It is the judgment of your Committee, that the whole subject 
should be left for the present, where it now is, in the hands of the 
Prudential Committee.'' 

" Before the question was taken on the acceptance of this 
report, Dr. Blanchard proposed, as an amendment to the same, 
the following resolutions : — 

'"Resolved, That this Board distinctly admits and atfirms the 
principle, that slaveholding is a practice which is not to be allowed 
in the Christian Church. 

" ' Resolved, That it is, in the judgment of the Board, the duty of 
our missionaries in the Cherokee and Choctaw nations to discon- 
tinue the practice of hiring slaves of their owners to do the work of 
the missions ; and, in the reception of members, to act on the princi- 
ple laid down by Mr. Treat and the Prudential Committee, that 
slaveholding is prima facie evidence against the j)iety of the candi- 
dates applying for admission to the church.' 

" Dr. Blanchard having been requested to withdraw those res- 
olutions, consented to do so; and the Board permitted them to 
be inserted in the minutes of the meeting." 

The careful reader will have noticed that this elaborate 
correspondence is unfinished; the last letters of Mr. Secre- 
tary Treat to the Cherokee and Choctaw missionaries having 
requested further replies on their part, which replies did not 
arrive until the following year. The record of the correspon- 
dence, therefore, is continued in the Annual Report of 1849, 
preceded by some explanations which the Prudential Com- 
mittee found it needful to make, and these again preceded by an 
addition to the special report, presented by the Secretaries in 
1848, on the " Control of Missionaries and Mission Churches." 

These additions occupy more than nine closely printed 
pages in the Annual Report of 1849, (pp. 69 to 79,) and are 
as follows : — 

"CONTROL OF MISSIONARIES AND MISSION CHURCHES. 

" Dr. Anderson read as follows, in relation to the ' Special 
Report ' which was laid before the Board last year by the Pru- 
dential Committee : — - 



(( i 



The " Special Report of the Prudential Committee on the 
Control to be exercised over Missionaries and Mission Churches " 



IN RELATION TO SLATERY. 127 

was presented to the Board, at its last meeting, in a printed form ; 
but as the members had not time to give it that attention winch the 
importance of the subject demanded, the consideration of it, after a 
single amendment, was deferred to the present meeting. oNIcan- 
while, the Prudential Committee were authorized to print the report 
as amended, and to make such modifications as, on further reflection, 
they should deem proper. 

" ' They lay this report again before the Board, with an addition to 
be introduced on page 39, immediately following the article designed 
to show that the Board is responsible for the ^w/c/?//;^ of missiomiries. 
The addition which is now made to the report is intended to show, 
that this responsibility of the Board for the teaching of the missionaries 
does not interfere ivith that of Ecclesiastical Bodies in respect to the same 
thing. It reads as follows : — 

"It maybe importaut, however, to renaark, that the responsibility of 
the Board for the teachiwj of the missionaries dies in no degree interfere 
with the responsibilities of ecclesiastical bodies in respect to the same 
thing. vSuch has been the result of an experience in this country con- 
tinued through forty years. Within this period, the Board has had about 
two hundred and seventy-fire ordained missionaries laboring under its 
direction in heathen lands, and has extended its supervision to every de- 
partment of their duty as missionaries; and there has never been the 
least sign of interference in the working of its own responsibilities and of 
those of the ecclesiastical bodies with which the missionaries were con- 
nected. But one case is recollected, in which an ecclesiastical body in 
this country has thought itself called upon to discipline a missionary, and 
then it deposed him from the ministry, and for the same cause that had 
previously led the Prudential Committee to dismiss him from the missionary 
service. The fact is, the missions, when fully organized, may easily con- 
stitute themselves ecclesiastical bodies; and the whole influence of the 
Prudential Committee is and has been to sustain them in their freedom 
and efficiency for missionary purposes- It is also true, that there has 
been no case, where the Prudential Committee has been called to act, in 
which doctrinal error was the only element of difficulty; nor has there 
been a case, involving doctrinal error as an obvious element, where it 
would have been convenient, or even practicable, for a mere ecclesiastical 
body to adjust it, as a whole. The cases were of a mixed and complicated 
nature; and they can hardly fail to be otherwise in distant organized 
missions among the heathen, and so must of necessity be regarded and 
treated as appertaining rather to the missionary than to the minister. 
The elements of character, which constitute a man an efficient and faith- 
ful minister, are almost identical with those which are essential to the 
character of a good and faithful missionary. It can hardly be questioned 
that the body, which is accountable for the proper application of the funds 
contributed for the support of missionaries, is under solemn obligation to 
see that those funds are not wasted upon an unworthy or unfaithful 
missionary. Indeed, it is impossible effectually to transfer this responsi- 
bility to another body, which is not only remote from the missions, but not 
in correspondence with them. And when the Board dismisses from the 
missionary work for a reason (as in the case above mentioned) that would 
make it the duty of an ecclesiastical body to depose from the ministry, 
there is no interference with the rightful authority of any ecclesiastical 
body. The Board does not assume to decide upon the fitness of an indi- 



128 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

vidual to be a minister of the Gospel ; but it is their duty to decide, and 
that intelligently, on his original and continued fitness to be sustained, by 
the funds committed to their disposal, as a missionary to the heathen. 
Nor is there more practical difficulty in adjusting his missionary, minis- 
terial, and church relations in foreign missions, than there is in home 
missions; and no more in respect to those Congregational missionaries, 
whose ordaining councils ceased to exist immediately after their induction 
into the ministerial office, than in respect to missionaries connected with 
presbyteries or classes in their native land. The contributors to the funds 
for foreign missions demand more evidence of faithfulness in the preach- 
ing of the Gospel, than can possibly be in the possession even of the 
permanent ecclesiastical bodies scattered over our country. And they 
will hold the Prudential Ccmmittee and the Boi.rd responsible for seeing 
that no part of their contributions go for the propagation of error, either 
in doctrine or practice; nor will they have any serious doubt, in case 
radical or serious mistakes are committed or abuses occur in the discharge 
of this trust, that the fact will soon be known, and the evil be in some 
way corrected. The Board claims to be only an acjincy foi" those, whether 
individuals or associated missionary bodies, who commit funds to its dis- 
posal for the support of foreign missions; and to see that the funds thus 
committed are appropriated according to the known wishes and expecta- 
tions of the donors. Such is a simple, practical view of this subject, as it 
has existed ever since the Board was formed. 

" Experience has shoAvn, that the responsibilities of missionaries to mis- 
sionary societies are entirely consistent with the unimpaired existence 
and operation of their responsibilities in their distinct and separate rela- 
tions as ministers. The churches and other ecclesiastical bodies at home, 
or in the missions, or the missions themselves regarded as ecclesiastical 
bodies, can take their own time and method of looking after alleged 
heresies or immoralities in individual missionaries. The Board need not 
wait for the ecclesiastical body, nor the ecclesiastical body for the Board. 
And the Board, conducted as it has been from the beginning, will be a 
help to the ecclesiastical bodies, whether church, council, presbytery, 
classis, or mission, in the discharge of their supervisory duties towards 
the ministers of the Gospel laboring as missionaries in foreign lands. Nor 
can it cease to be thus helpful, except by a change in its course of pro- 
ceedings, which would speedily prove destructive alike to its influence and 
its existence." 

"' Tlio Pruflential Committee having had under consideration the 
subject of this special report another year, deem it proper to sug- 
gest, that there seem to them to be reasons which render it inex- 
pedient that a formal vote of adoption should be passed ; but that 
the report should ratlier be received as a record of the results of the 
experience of the Prudential Committee in conducting foreign 
missions, — as information wdiich may properly go into the official 
publications of the Board. It is not to be supposed that the 
measure of our experience is yet full, in any one of the great de- 
partments or modes of operating in the work of missions. Doubt- 
less we have much yet to learn, both through our failures and suc- 
cesses, connected Avith a prayerful contemplation of the word and 
providence of God. The Prudential Committee see not indeed, at 
present, any reason to doubt tlie correctness of the principles and 
views embodied in this report; but the report covers much ground. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 129 

and embraces a great number of points in missionary practice ; and 
the Committee might hereafter experience embarrassment, in case 
the report is now taken out of their hands by a vote of adoption, 
should further experience demand a change in any of the prin- 
ciples, opinions and usages set forth in the report. The ends aimed 
at, in ordering and preparing it, appear to be sufficiently attained by 
its embodiment and publication, so as not to require any formal 
adoption of the report, at least for the present.' 

" After the reading of the foregoing statement, the Board re- 
solved, that the 'Special Report' of the Prudential Committee 
'on the Control to be exercised over Missionaries and Mission 
Churches,' as now presented by the Committee, be received as a 
record of the results of their experience in the long period of 
their official duty ; but, in view of reasons suggested by them, 
the Board do not at this time act upon the question of its adop- 
tion, leaving the subject with the Committee, however, to make 
such use of their report in the publications of the Board, and in 
all other "^vays, as they shall deem proper. 

" CORRESPOXDEXCE WITH THE CHEROKEE AND CHOCTAW 
MISSIONS. 

" The following statement was submitted by the Prudential 
Committee, in regard to their correspondence with the Cherokee 
and Choctaw missions: — 

" ' It will be remembered, that the Prudential Committee sub- 
mitted to the Board, at its last annual meeting, an unfinished corre- 
spondence with the Cherokee and Choctaw missions, on their rela- 
tion to the subject of slavery. As a part of the history of the case, 
the Committee deem it proper to say that, on the 20th of February 
last, perceiving that the Ciiristiau community had extensively mis- 
understood their letter to the last-named mission, dated June 22, 
1848, they published the following brief statement: — viz. 

"The letter sent by Mr. Treat to the mission had not that authoritative 
character which some have attributed to it. It expressed opinions then 
and still entertained by the Committee; but not in a form which made 
those opinions decisions, or instructions. The Committee have given no in- 
structions to the missionaries in relation to slavery; they say expressly that 
they address their brethren ' vnth swjgcstions and arguments.' The dis- 
tinction between suggestions, opinions and arguments, on the one hand, 
and decisions, rules and instructions, on the other, though necessarily 
familiar to the conductors of missions, seems to have been overlooked by 
some who have written on this subject. The missions reply to suggestions, 
if they see cause, by suggestions, to opinions by opinions, and to argu- 
ments by arguments. On some subjects, this interchange of views has ex- 
tended through several years, before the opinions of the Committee and 
their brethren have become perfectly consentaneous; and not unfrequent- 
ly, as the result of this free correspondence, the sentiments at first enter- 
tained on both sides have been modified. 
6* 



130 THE AMERICAN BOAKD 

" This distinction is vital to the proper understanding of Mr. Treat's 
letter to the Choctaw mission; and for want of attention to it, very- 
erroneous constructions have been put upon that letter. With this 
practical distinction in view, moreover, it will be seen that the Committee 
and the Secretaries have done nothing inconsistent with the letter or spirit 
of the two fundamental principles recognized by the Board at Brooklyn; 
namely, that credible evidence of piety is the only thing to be required 
for admission into the churches gathered among the heathen; and that 
missionaries and their churches are the rightful and exclusive judges as to 
the sufficiency of this evidence. It is believed that foreign missions can- 
not be successfully prosecuted in disregard of these principles, at least by 
the Congregational ists and Presbyterians of this country, and that such 
missions are and must be controlled mainly by the free use of suggestions, 
opinions and arguments; and those who have the direction of the missions 
must have truth and reason on their side, in order to be successful. Time 
must also be allowed for the requisite interchanges, and for necessary re- 
flection on both sides. 

"We merely add, that the Committee have never had any intention of 
* cutting off' the Choctaw mission from its connection Avith the Board. In- 
deed, the last two paragraphs in the ' Special Eeport of the Prudential 
Committee on the Control to be exercised over Missionaries,' laid before 
the Board in a printed form, and published in the Minutes of the last 
Annual Meeting, show that nothing of the kind was contemplated. Nor 
have the Committee pi'eferred any •' charges' against the mission. On the 
contrary, they would repeat the sentiment in the letter of Mr. Treat, ex- 
pressing their undiminished confidence ' in the integrity and faithfulness 
of these servants of Christ.' " 

" ' In submitting to the last annual meeting the unfinished corre- 
spondence which has already been mentioned, the Committee depart- 
ed from the established usage of the Board. It was their wish, (1.) 
to gratify the desire Avhich so many have felt to ascertain the pre- 
cise relation w^hich the Cherokee and ChoctaAv mission sustain to 
slaver}', and what opinions those brethren entertain on the general 
subject; and (2.) to give the Board and its patrons an opportunity 
to understand the sentiments of the Prudential Committee, in 
respect to slavery as affecting the missionary enterprise among the 
heathen ; and also the manner in which the Secretaries, under the 
supervision of the Committee, might be expected to interchange 
views and impressions with their fellow-laborers in the Gospel of 
Christ. It was neither the purpose nor the desire of the Committee 
to obtain any formal action of the Board on the correspondence ; as 
they did not suppose that such action was necessary. 

" ' And perhaps the Committee may be allowed to say, that a vote 
adopting their letter to the Choctaw mission seems to them, not 
only unnecessary, but of doubtful expediency. It was not written 
with any such object in view. And in the very nature of the case, 
there can be no opportunity for amending or improving such a letter 
■when it comes before the Board for its sanction. It is not a report, 
presented by a Committee in the ordinary routine of business, to be 
curtailed, or amplified, or changed in whatever way may seem best, 
but a statement of the views of the body from wliich it emanated, 
and already sent to those for whom it was intended. 

" ' It was the wish and hope of the Committee last year, that the 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 131 

correspondence with both missions might be brought to a close be- 
fore the present meeting. In this, however, tlieir expectations have 
been disappointed. Letters have been interchanged with the brethren 
among the Clicrokees ; and the points of ililference have been 
gradually disappearing. For reasons which arc deemed entirely 
satisfiictory, the Choctaw mission did not reply to the letter of the 
Committee dated June 22, 1848, until April last. Although the de- 
lay on some accounts is to be regretted, still it is manifest that 
nothing has been lost ; on the contrary, time has thus far been a 
kind and helpful coadjutor, 

" ' The conclusion to Avhich the Committee have come in regard to 
the correspondence of the past year is as follows : — 

" ' 1. They submit to the Board the letter from the Choctaw 
mission already referred to, dated April 1-4, 1849. Indeed, they 
deem it an act of simple justice to those brethren, that the patrons of 
the mission should at once be made acquainted with the views 
therein expressed. 

" ' 2. The Committee do not think it expedient, at present, that 
the correspondence with the Clierokee mission should be laid before 
the Board. In expressing this opinion, hov/ever, they distinctly 
and fully admit the right of the Board to call for tliis or any other 
correspondence, and indeed to institute inquiries into any of the 
proceedings of the Committee, in such manner and form as shall 
seem best, 

" ' As already intimated, it was thought that the peculiarities of 
the case were such, last year, that an exception should be made to 
the usage of the Board ; and when the second letter of the Choctaw 
mission shall have been read, it will be seen to have a special rela- 
tion to what has gone before ; and, consequently, to fall within the 
exception, 

" ' But as regards the letters which have passed between the Mis- 
sionary House and the brethren among the Cherokees, within the 
past twelve months, there does not appear to be any sufficient reason 
for deviating from the ordinary course, 

" ' Upon one other point it may be well for the Committee to say 
a few words. The members of the Choctaw mission have directed 
their attention very particularly, during the past year, to the substi- 
tution of free labor for that of slaves. They are anxious to make a 
change as soon as practicable, not only to gratify a large portion of 
their friends and patrons, but that they may increase the economy, 
comfort and efficiency of their own labors. The Committee have 
been cordially cooperating with the mission in this matter; but 
thev are sorry to say, that thev have not succeeded, as yet, m 
relieving their brethren according to their earnest request. 1 he 
subject will continue to receive attention, however, and it is Jioped 
an.l believed that, in some way, free labor will be success ully 
introduced at an earlv day. Indeed, a reduction has already been 
made in the number "^of slaves hired from year to year, at the dit- 
ferent stations. And the Committee will say m conclusion, tha , as 
it seems to them, the mission are willing to do all that can properly 
be required of them, in existing circumstances, to place this ques- 
tion on the desired basis. 



132 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

" The letter of the Choctaw mission, referred to in the preced- 
ing statement, is here subjoined. 

" ' Stockbridge, Choctaw Nation-, April 14th, 1849. 
" 'Ret. S. B. Treat, Cor. Sec. of the A. B. C. F. M., Boston : 

" ' Rev. and Dear Sir : — Your letter of June 22a, 1848, was duly- 
received, and has been the subject of our prayerful deliberations. 
We reciprocate the feelings of kindness and conhdence expressed in 
your letter, and shall ever retain a grateful remembrance of your 
visit among us. 

" ' When we first entered on our missionary labors, we were 
young and inexperienced. There Avere no examples of schools or 
churches among the South-Western Indians, save those of the Mora- 
vian brethren at Spring Place. The counsel and exam[)le of the 
devoted Gambold we^v instructive and encouraging. The visit of 
the beloved Mr. Cornelius at Brainerd, when one of our number 
was there, and when our first mission church was organized, was 
timely and welcome. The visit of the venerable Dr. AVorcester at 
Mayhew, in the spring of 1821, was very refreshing. While he 
was with us, the Mayhew church was formed ; and there he offered 
the consecrating prayer at the communion table, and administered 
the bread to the communicants. " This was the last time he assisted 
in public worship on earth." It is to us cause of devout gratitude 
that we were favored with the counsels and prayers of these beloved 
mien, while laying the corner-stones of the first Indian churches. 

" ' We came to the Choctaws to labor for their conversion, and to 
make our graves with them, expecting to fall in our field of labor 
as your missionaries. We have ever had attachments to the Amer- 
ican Board, its officers and members, especially the Secretaries, 
Treasurers, and Prudential Committee, sucli as we have felt towards 
no other persons. Their ot't-rei)eated expressions of approbation, 
relative to our labors, have greatly encouraged and strengthened us. 
We earnestly desire to retain a hold on their affectionate confidence, 
and on the confidence of the religious community, who still dwell in 
the land which gave us birth, and who sent us to the Choctaws as 
the messengers of the churches. 

"'But at this late period, Ave, with the Committee, are pressed 
with peculiar and complicated difficulties on the subject of slavery. 
We wish you to feel assured that we have no personal attachments 
to this institution, and that we have ever been deeply impressed 
with the great evils Avhicli mark its character, and of our duty to do 
all in our power, as servants of the Lord Jesus, to mitigate and 
remove them. It is a trial of no small magnitude to reside more 
than a quarter of a century in the midst of such things, and here to 
train up families of children, from the cradle, not knowing how soon 
we may die, and leave them in the midst of all these evils. 

" ' Por more than five and twenty years, the evils and the wrongs 
of slavery have been the subjects of our anxious and prayerful de- 
liberations. With Mr. Evarts, one of the early Secretaries of the 
Board, we had repeated personal conversations, at different times, 
on this subject ; and also an extended correspondence, through him. 



IN llELATION TO SLAVERY. IS.'J 

with tlio Prudential Committoo. Lon^ before the present auitution, 
the subject of .slavery, as it related to our mission, had been discussed 
and settled, as we then tliou<r|,t, on a scriptural Ijasis. Sor did we 
receive an intimation from either of the early Secretaries, or from 
any mendjcr of the Trudential Committee, that it had been settled 
on a wronf^ basis. 

'•'Amid all our cares and labors, the condition of the colored pop- 
iilatifui has not been for^'otten ; and while our hands have been full 
of other wf>rk, we suppose the (Jhoctaw missionaries have dotie as 
much as any other missionaries of the lioard to promote; i)ractical 
omanciimtion, and to produce an impression i'avorahle to that object. 
So well and so favorably were our principles understood, that, before 
leavin</ Mississippi, the agency of one of the brethren of this ndssion 
was solicited by a hi;,dily respectable planter of that State, to aid in 
securing the emancipation of mon; lh;ui tw(.-nty slaves, who, in com- 
pliance with their own wishes, were liberated and sent to Lilieria. 
We have ever felt it our duty to seek the spiritual good of both 
masters and servants, and not to interfere with the legal relations 
they susttiin to each other. When, with the consent of the master, 
we have seen an opportunity of extending a helping hand to the 
slave, we have ever been reatly to endjrace it. Since; the commence- 
ment of our mission, we have by our own direct agency, and in j>art 
by the use of our own funds, secured liberty to eight slaves. Ln 
common with tlnuisands in the slave country, we regard slavery as 
a tremendous evil ; one which casts a dark and ominous shadow 
over the future jjrosjjects of this people. Jlad we consulted our 
feelings rather than our duty, long ere this we should have fled from 
it to a land where we could have breathed a freer and more con- 
genial atniosidiere. liut when we look around on those for whom 
wx' are laboring, most of whom are not involved in this evil, and 
remember that the Savior hath said, " Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the Gospel to every creature," we dare not leave them ; and 
when we look on those whom we trust the J.ord has given us as the 
seals of our ministry, how can we forsake them f These consid<;ra- 
tions have kept us at our post. \V(- have not one jtarticle c»f sym- 
pathy for slavery, except that we may be instrumental of mitigating 
and removing its evils. 

" ' Since receiving your letter, we have endeavored to review this 
whole subject, and to inquire what more can be done by us to ad- 
vance the cause of truth anfl righteousness in this land, and to meet 
the views expressed in that letter. 

" ' We have supposed that we accorded with the sentiments ad- 
vanced in the several Jieports of the Board, on the subject of slav- 
ery. The one of 1840 so ably and so fully defined and settle<l the 
principles on which we were to proceed, that we apprehended no 
serious embarrassments to our future labors. We entirely ac(;onle<l 
with the sentiments expressed in that Jteport, and t^Hi>i'CiMy with 
the two fundamental principles there laid down: 1. Hie ordi- 
nances of baptism and the Lord's supper cannot be scripturally and 
rightfully denied to those who give credible evidence ol piety. 
2. " The missionaries, in connection with the churchc-s which they 
have gathered, are to be the sole judges of the sufhciency of this 



134 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

evidence." These have been our principles from the commence- 
ment of the mission. 

" ' The employment of slave labor is one ground of objection to our 
mode of procedure. By tliis, it is thought, " we countenance and 
encourage the system " ; that " we make this species of labor more 
profitable to the owner, at the same time that we put it in his power, 
if he will, to plead our example to justify or excuse the relation." 
We have wished, as far as possible, to avoid every thing wliich 
might seem to sanction this system. Gladly would we have avoided 
the hiring of slaves, could we have obtained other suitable help. 
With us it has been a matter of necessity. We apprehend the 
difficulties with which we have had to struggle in relation to this 
subject are not generally understood. It is but justice to ourselves 
that some of them, at least, should be known. 

" ' 1. In the first place, the Committee at Boston find it much 
more difficult to send us helpers to perform the manual labor at our 
mission stations than formerly. Twenty years ago, we were sup- 
plied, to a considerable extent, with kind, faithful, industrious me- 
chanics and farmers from the Eastern States, who took otfthe great 
burden of secular cares and labors from those whose duty it was to 
preach the Gospel. Now, it is rare that such a man is sent to our 
assistance. A few we have had, and they liave been highly es- 
teemed for their Avork's sake. 

" "2. It is much more difficult, in our present location, than it was 
on the other side of the Mississippi, to obtain such free help as will 
at all answer our purpose. Since the great openings for laborers 
and mechanics in the free States and territories of the AVest, and 
especially since the commencement of the Mexican war, there have 
been few free laborers to be obtained ; and those have generally 
been of a character very unsuitable to be employed at a mission sta- 
tion. In order, as far as possible, to comply with the instructions 
of the Committee, we have sought for the best free help to be ob- 
tained in the country. Some who came to us with fair appearances 
and professions have on trial proved profane, intemperate, dishon- 
est and licentious. 

" ' 3. Another thing which has greatly increased our embarrass- 
ment, in relation to this subject, has been the peculiar character of 
our families. Our schools, with one exception, are schools of fe- 
males. Our families consist mostly of females. This renders it 
extremely difficult, and in some instances altogether inexpedient, to 
employ native help for our out-of door work. We have come near 
having two of our schools broken up, by the improper conduct of 
our free hired help. We cannot express the deep anxiety which has 
pressed upon us from this source. 

_ " ' In connection with these facts, we ask the Committee to con- 
sider for a nioment, that some of us have to be absent on preaching 
tours to distant congregations two weeks at a time, leaving our 
families dependent on such help, Avith none to oversee or control 
them but females. We presume those to whom we now appeal 
would not be Avilling to leave their own families, if they consisted of 
from thirty to fifty females, under such protectors ; and that they 
would not wish us to do it, if it could be avoided. Our circumstances 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 135 

at different stcations, of course, differ very considerably. At some, 
■we have suffered much more than at others. Oppressed as we have 
been by these troubles, we have felt compelled, in sundry instances, 
to resort to slave labor. And here it may be asked, " Can we pro- 
cure slave labor of a better character ? " "We not unfrequently have 
an opportunity to hire slaves, both male and female, of established 
ciiaracters, in whom the community, as well as ourselves, have con- 
fidence. Some of these persons feel it a great privilege to live with 
us ; and several, in consequence of such residence, have been brought 
to a saving knowledge of the truth. When we can leave our fami- 
lies with such helpers, wo can be absent on tours to preach the 
Gospel, without that distressing solicitude which, under other cir- 
cumstances, has so often oppressed us. But we should greatly 
prefer good free help ; it would be much niore efficient, and more 
desirable in every respect. We have repeatedly and most earnestly 
solicited a supply of such help. That we liave not had it, we be- 
lieve is not the fault of the Committee at Boston. They would have 
granted our request, had it been in tlieir power. We are grateful to 
the Committee for tiie efforts now making to supply us, at least in 
part, with sucli free help as our necessities require. We shall most 
ghully second every effort that may be made in this direction. 

" ' At the same time, we wish the difficulties relating to this sub- 
ject to be understood and appreciated. There niust always be much 
uncertainty attending help, brought a distance of from one to two 
thousand miles. They may soon become dissatisfied, and either 
wish to return, or to proceed onward to Texas or to the golden 
regions of California. True, they may be bound by contract ; but 
if disposed, as has sometimes been the case, they may annoy us, 
until we are more than willing to release them. And when they 
leave, months and sometimes a whole year may pass away, before 
other free help can be obtained. We hope the efforts now luaking 
to secure such lielp as our necessities require may be more success- 
ful than those heretofore made have been. 

" ' In this place, permit us to state some of our thoughts as to the 
amount of encouragement given to slavery by the hiring of slaves in 
the mission. This may be considered in relation to two particulars ; 
the pecuniary gain resulting to the owners, and the moral influence 
arising from our example. 

" ' As respects the first of these, the pecuniary gain to tlie slaveholder, 
there is undoubtedly some encouragement and support given to 
slavery by Avhat we pay for hired slave labor. So far as it goes, it 
tends to make slavery profitable. This we would avoid, if we could. 
But we think the encouragement, in this way, given by us to slav- 
ery, is very inconsiderable, compared with what is done in other 
quarters. The small amount paid by us annually for slave labor 
will bear no comparison with the immense sums paid every year by 
the free States, by England, and bv the rest of the world, tor the 
products of slave labor. Now, so far as profit to the holder is con- 
cerned, there can be little difference between the hn-mg ot slaves, 
and the purchasing of what is raised by them of their owners. A\ e 
think it must be obvious, that should the market for slave products 



136 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

be closGcl in the free States, and in other parts of the world, the sys- 
tem could not long survive the measure. 

" ' We are aware that those living in the free States consider it 
impracticable to dispense with the products of slave labor. If it be 
so, — if it is found impracticable where slavery does not exist, and 
where free help is easily obtained, to dispense with the products 
raised by slaves, how much more impracticable must it be for those 
living in the midst of slavery, and where free help is not to be 
obtained ! 

" ' With us, the employment of slave labor, and the use of slave 
products, are not a mere matter of convenience, or a calculation of 
profit and loss. It is a matter of necessity. We have often no other 
alternative. If we want a horse shod, a slave must do it. If we 
stop for the night at a public house, a slave must take care of our 
horse and cook our food. If we want repairs made, or a house 
built, or land cleared and cultivated, there is often no other one but 
a slave to do it. To say the least, there is as much necessity for the 
use of slave labor, and of what is produced by the slave, where 
slavery exists, as where it does not exist. And we think it will not 
be contended that, so tar as mere profit to the slave owner is con- 
cerned, there is any essential difference between the hiring of slaves, 
and the purchasing of the master of what is raised by them. 

'' ' The thought has occurred to our minds why we, in our neces- 
sities, should be expected to abstain from every thing which may in 
a small degree add to the profit of slavery, while the rest of the 
world, with ample funds, are sustaining it on a vastly larger scale, 
Avithout fearing rebuke, or seeming to apprehend that they are doing 
wrong. 

'' ' With the intense interest prevailing in the free States, in 
England, and we may say, throughout the civilized world, in rela- 
tion to the wrongs of slavery, we see no prevailing disposition to lay 
an embargo on the products of slave labor. The cotton, sugar, rice 
and tobacco of the slave States are purchased as freely now, as before 
the present movement existed. All the materials and means, neces- 
sary to make slave labor productive and profitable, are furnished 
now as readily by the free States to slaveholders, for the use of the 
slave, and for the benefit of the master, as they were twenty years 
ago. We see no tendency, in any quarter, to operate to any consid- 
erable extent against slavery, by dispensing with the products of 
slave labor. 

" ' This fact has led us to suppose that God has another way of 
bringing this grievous and oppressive system to an end. We believe 
the power of the Gospel, and of an enlightened public sentiment, 
will be brought to bear upon it, until it shall disappear from our 
otherwise happy land. An evil so enormous cannot long withstand 
the combined influence which is now brought to bear upon it from 
every part of the civilized world. We look for this great work to 
be accomplished ultimately by those who are most deeply afiected 
by it, and who can do it more eflPectually and more safely than it 
can be done in any other quarter. The great duty devolving on the 
Church, as we think, is to bring the Gospel, with all its kind and 
heavenly influences, to bear upon those sections of our country 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 137 

where this evil exists. The law of love, if faithfully and affection- 
ately applied both to masters and servants, must overcome and erad- 
icate all opposing interests. 

" ' As relates to the other particular referred to, the moral ivfluence 
of our example, we tliink it is not what many have supposed it to be. 
"We are not regarded by the people among whom we reside as the 
advocates and abettors of slavery. They understand tliat what we 
do, in the way of employing slaves, is done reluctantly and from 
necessity. We are regarded as opposed to slavery, and by many 
are called " abolitionists." 

" 'About a year since, one of the brethren of the mission received 
a letter from a leading man of the nation, in which he says, " You 
are a Northern man, and meddle yourself too much about the aboli- 
tion doctrine, which we condemn. With this doctrine, you will 
divide us up among the Choctaws, and stop the good work of God, 
by chilling the hearts of the Choctaw Christians." The brother to 
whom this Avas addressed has probably employed as much slave 
labor as any one in the mission. We think the above ought to be 
received as conclusive testimony, that our general influence and 
example are not regarded by the people among whom Ave live as 
sustaining slavery. 

" ' At the same time that we give these as our deliberate convic- 
tions, we are desirous of avoiding even the appearance of evil. 
We wish, if possible, to give no offence to those whose judgment 
may differ from our own. We shall most cheerfully employ none 
but free help, provided it can be obtained. But in cases Avhere free 
help cannot be obtained, we trust the privilege will be granted us 
of employing such help as our necessities require, without its being 
considered a dereliction of duty. 

" ' We could say more in relation to other topics embraced in your 
letter, but do not Vish unnecessarily to prolong this connnunication. 
We have attentively read and considered the letter of the Cherokee 
brethren of March 21, 1848, relating to this subject, and do adopt it, 
as expressing, in a clear and condensed manner, our main views and 
principles. 

" ' In closing, permit us to request the Committee, our patrons 
and friends, to^bear us on their hearts at a throne of grace, remem- 
bering the great responsibility still resting on ns as the missionaries 
of the Lord Jesus Christ to this tribe of red men, and to every class 
of people residing among them. " Out of the depths have we cried 
unto thee, O Lord." And we hope he has heard us. We wish to 
repeat our cordial approbation of the Reports of the Board, and our 
grateful remembrance of the visits we have received from the 
Secretaries. And we wish ever to bear in mind our obligations to 
the Committee under whose patronage we labor ; and also to that 
church to whose communion we belong, whose standards are based, 
as we believe, on the Holy Scriptures, and whose discipline we have 
ever wished faithfully to exercise in our churches. 

" ' We are going to the judgment with responsibilities resting on 
us in regard to this mission, and all connected with it, which can be 
felt in no heart as in ours ; and Avhich can be sustained only by a 
humble reliance on him wlio has said, " Lo, I am with you ahvay." 



138 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

"Wherein we have erred, or been unfaithful, may we find mercy, 
and receive guidance from the Savior, as to all that is to come. 

" ' We do not cease to search the word of God, that we may know 
what is his good and acceptable and perfect will concerning us in all 
tilings ; feeling a peculiar obligation to inculcate the great relative 
duties which pertain to the subject of this letter. 

" ' In behalf of the brethren of the Choctaw mission, affectionate- 
ly and truly yours, 

" ' C. KixGSBURY, Chairman. 

" ' C. C. CoPELAKD, Clerh: 

" A motion was made to refer the foregoing statement of the 
Prudential Committee, and the letter of the Choctaw mission, to 
a special committee ; which motion, together with the documents, 
was referred to the Business Committee. The last-named com- 
mittee subsequently reported that, in their judgment, there was 
no occasion for a reference of the statement and letter to a special 
committee ; and they recommended that the papers be left with 
the Prudential Committee, for publication with the other docu- 
ments of the Board ; which was done accordingly." 

I will now rehearse, as briefly as possible, the admissions, 
and the practical conclusions, of this remarkable correspon- 
dence, and its result, the order of time of whose several parts 
is as follows, namely : 

1. The report of Mr. Secretary Treat, after his visit to the 
Cherokee and Choctaw mission stations. 

2. The letter of the Cherokee mission in regard to that 
visit and report. 

3. The letter of the Choctaw mission on the same subject. 

4. The reply of the Prudential Committee, through Mr. 
Treat, to the Choctaw missionaries. 

5. Their reply, through the same functionary, to the Cher- 
okee missionaries. 

6. The report of a Committee, to which all the foregoing 
had been referred. 

7. The amendment moved by Dr. Blanchard, but ultimate- 
ly withdrawn by the mover, at the request of members. 

8. The adoption of the Committee's report, " that the 
whole subject should be left for the present [1848] where it 
now is." 

9. The addition, in 1849, to the Prudential Committee's 
»' Special Report " of 1848, respecting the "control of mis- 
sionaries and mission churches." 

10. The very important and significant " statement " of 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 



139 



the Prudential Committee in 1849, respecting their corre- 
spondence with the missionaries in 1848. 

11. The reply of the Choctaw mission to the Prudential 
Committee's letter of the previous year. 

12. The conclusion of the whole matter, being a report of 
the Business Committee, " that the papers be left with the 
Prudential Committee for publication," — and notkimj else! 

I. 

TESTIMONY OF MR. TREAT IN REGARD TO SLAVERY AMONG THE 
CHEROKEES AND CHOCTAWS. 

Slavery began among these people long before the mission- 
aries came to them, and it has all the general characteristics 
of negro slavery in the Southern portion of our Union. 

The Cherokees hold probably 1,500 slaves, the Choctaws 
at least 2,000, and in both nations they are increasing. 

The laws of the Cherokees discourage individual emancipa- 
tion, expel free negroes (except a certain class) from the 
Nation, forbid the teaching of reading and writing to both 
slaves and free negroes, and forbid to both these classes the 
ownership of certain kinds of property. 

The laws of the Choctaws expel from the Nation any per- 
son favoring abolitionism, and declare that teaching slaves to 
read, write, or sing, or sitting at table with them, shall be 
sufficient proof of favoring abolitionism ; they forbid to slaves 
the possession of property ; they expel from the Nation free 
negroes, and all who encourage, abet, or conceal them ; and 
they very strongly discourage individual emancipation. 

Slavery is decidedly prejudicial, in many ways, to the most 
important interests of both nations ; the evils proceeding from 
it are truly terrific ; its existence neutralizes the influence of 
the missions, and necessarily hinders missionary success ; the 
power, in both nations, is mainly in the hands of slaveholders, 
and there is no present prospect of emancipation,^ And yet 
[strange to say] the Indians have increased their investments 
in this species of property in proportion as " the doctrines of 
the Gospel have exerted their appropriate influence " ! 

Slaveholders were among iha earliest converts and warm- 
est friends of the missionaries in both nations. And the 
course of the missionaries was, in regard to slavery, uniformly 



140 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

to avoid the mention of it in preaching ; to use great cau- 
tion, even in speaking of it in private ; but, if they were 
obliged to speak of it, to declare that nothing was said in 
Scripture, either directly condemning it as a system, denounc- 
ing it as sinful, or forbidding its continuance. They there- 
fore received slaveholders " early," and without representing 
this relation as in any manner objectionable, into their 
churches, and continued to do so. 

In the Cherokee mission churches, there were 24 slave- 
holders, in the Choctaw, 38. And the missionaries did not 
attempt to disturb the relation of these persons to their slaves, 
either at first or subsequently. 

Mr. Treat closes his report by asserting his entire confi- 
dence in " the integrity and faithfulness " of these mission- 
aries. His idea of what constitutes '' faithfulness " in a min- 
ister of the Gospel may be inferred from his previous asser- 
tion, (under the head "Policy of the Missions,") that "it was 
not to he expected that they [the missionaries] should place 
themselves far in advance of public sentiment in New Eng- 
land and the Middle States."" 

II. 

TESTIMONY OF THE CHEROKEE MISSIONARIES. 

Since the laws of the Cherokees sustain slavery, and the 
members of the mission churches favor it, church discipline 
directed against it would be difiicult, even if the missionaries 
wished such a proceeding. But, 

On the contrary, regarding it as certain that the Apostles 
did receive slaveholders to the communion of their churches, 
and being unable to see any material difference between their 
circumstances and those of the present time, and finding that 
many slaveholders give evidence that they love the Lord Jesus 
Christ in sincerity, (complying thus with the general rule of 
church membership,) the missionaries cannot think of reject- 
ing any person from the church simply because he is a slave- 
holder. 

Nor can they make it a test of piety, or a conditio7i of 
admission to the church, that a candidate should express a 
determination not to live and die a slaveholder. 

They also regard it as impossible to exercise discipline for 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 141 

the mere buying or selling of slaves, because " occasional ex- 
changes of masters are inseparable from the existence of 
slavery." 

They also refuse " to make it a general rule that the sepa- 
ration of parents and children, by sale and purchase, shall be 
regarded as a disciplinable oifence." And they mention, as 
an important point in regard to such separation, that "it is 
one of those things which are not forbidden by any express 
injunction of Scripture." 

III. 

TESTIMONY OF THE CHOCTAW MISSIONARIES. 

They have endeavored, as a mission, " to keep aloof from 
the abolition movement." 

They have been connected with slavery in two ways ; by 
employing slaves as laborers, and by admitting them a7id their 
masters to the church. 

They assume that slavery has long existed "in the Church 
of God," and that they have plain apostolic warrant for the 
admission of slaveholders to the church. 

They decline even to adopt measures which shall aim at, 
or tend towards, an ultimate removal of slavery from the 
Choctaw people. 

They admit that slavery was among the Choctaws at the 
commencement of the mission, (showing that it was by the 
choice of the missionaries that it gained a footing in their 
churches.) 

They refer to the full acquiescence of the Prudential Com- 
mittee in their early policy, and mention, " with peculiar 
interest and satisfaction," the result to which the Board came 
in 1845, (namely, the unanimous adoption of Dr. Woods's 
report in justification of their course.) 

IV. 

REPLY OF THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE TO THE CHOCTAW 
MISSION. 

The substance of this elaborate letter may be expressed in 
very small space. It consists, first, of certain expressions, 
showing the theoretical estimate which the Prudential Com- 



142 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

mittee find it desirable to announce in regard to slavery ; 
next, of certain concessions, showing the practical allowance 
which they are willing to give to it; and lastly, of certain 
suggestions (emphatically declared, in the Annual Report of 
the following year, to be only suggestions, not decisions or 
instructions) of a future policy in regard to it. 

They declare that " Domestic slavery is at war with the 
rights of man and opposed to the principles of the Gospel," 
and that a system of slavery is always and everywhere sinful. 
This is the theoretical view. 

Treating the subject practicalhj, they agree that, neverthe- 
less, every act of slaveholding is not to be regarded as sinful, 
nor yet as properly excluding the slaveholder from " Chris- 
tian fellowship " : that the slaveholder's duty may be to keep 
his slaves, and not to emancipate them : and that the mis- 
sionary and his church must judge for themselves, in each 
case, whether a slaveholding candidate should be received. 

Finally, they suggest, for the candid and prayerful consid- 
eration of the missionaries, (whose faithfulness, integrity, and 
devotedness, hitherto, they cheerfully certify,) the inquiry 
whether they cannot dispense with the hiring of slave labor, 
and whether they cannot take more stringent precautions that 
none but truly Christian slaveholders gain admission to their 
churches. 

Y. 

REPLY OF THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE TO THE CHEROKEE 

MISSION. 

The Committee do not regard these brethren as occupying 
precisely the same ground with the Choctaw missionaries. 
Nevertheless, as their letter (foregoing) to the Choctaw mis- 
sion covered the topics belonging to both, they desire the 
Cherokee missionaries to consider that letter addressed to 
them also. 

VI. 

THE REPORT OF A COMMITTEE TO WHICH ALL THE FOREGOING 
HAD BEEN REFERRED. 

This Committee declare their cordial approbation of the 
fidelity of the Prudential Committee ; of the wisdom and 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 



143 



kindness of the Secretary who conducted the correspondence ; 
and of the excellent Christian spirit of the letters from the 
two missions; they refrain from critical examination of a 
correspondence as yet unfinished ; and recommend that the 
whole subject be left in the hands of the Prudential Com- 
mittee. 

YII. 

THE AMENDMENT MOVED BY DR. BLANCIIARD. 

Before any vote was taken in regard to the report last 
mentioned, Dr. Blanchard offered two resolutions by way of 
amendment to it, requesting the Board to declare these three 
things : that slaveholding ought not to be allowed in the 
Christian church ; that the missionaries ought to stop hiring 
slaves ; and that they should consider slaveholding as prima 
facie evidence against the piety of a candidate for church 
membership. 

If these resolutions had been acted on, it is plain that they 
would have been rejected by a nearly unanimous vote. But 
the policy of the Prudential Committee has always been to 
try evasion first ; "to win, like Fabius, by delay;" and to 
make as little af&rmation, in regard to these troublesome sub- 
jects, as possible. These allies of the slaveholder therefore 
asked the advocate of the slave to oblige them by withdraw- 
ing his advocacy ! And he, most unjustifiably, at once con- 
sented. 

VIII. 

THE ADOPTION OF THE REPORT. 

The report of the special Committee was then adopted, (p. 
Ill of Ann. Hep. of 1848,) leaving the whole matter in the 
hands of the Prudential Committee until the next year. 

IX. 

THE CONTROL OF MISSIONARIES AND MISSION CHURCHES; AN 
ADDITION, IN 1849, TO THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE'S SPECIAL 
REPORT OF 1848. 

This document, admitting that the Board are only agents 
of the contributors for missionary purposes, and that these 
contributors may hold the Board responsible for seeing that 



144 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

no part of their contributions goes for the propagation of 
error, either in doctrine or practice, further concedes that, 
thouo-h the Board do not assume to decide upon the fitness of 
an individual to be a minister of the Gospel, it is their duty 
to decide on his original and continued fitness to be sustained, 
bj the funds entrusted to them, as a missionary to the heathen. 
It is a significant circumstance that, at the close of a paper 
making this very important concession — a concession which 
brands the Prudential Committee with inexcusable guilt for 
every one of the forty-two years during which they have left 
these stations under the guidance of pro-slavery mission- 
aries — this Committee should suggest as expedient that the 
Board " receive " their report, but not " adopt " it. The 
Board, of course, very readily complied with this suggestion. 

X. 

THE "statement" OF THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE, IN 1849, 
RESPECTING THEIR CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE CHEROKEE 
AND CHOCTAW MISSIONS IN 1848. 

The Prudential Committee allege that the Christian commu- 
nity have extensively misunderstood the purport of their letter 
of June 2"2d, of the previous year, to the Choctaw mission, 
and that the following explanation of the meaning of that 
letter has become needful. They say, therefore, that that 
letter had not the authoritative character which some have 
attributed to it ; that it brought 7io charges against the mis- 
sion ; that, though it expressed opinions, then and still enter- 
tained by the Committee, these were only opinions, and 7iot 
decisions or instructions ; that this distinction is vital to the 
proper understanding of Mr. Treat's letter; that, for want 
of it, very erroneous constructions have been put upon that 
letter ; that the Committee and the Secretaries have done 
nothing inconsistent with the doings of the Board at Brook- 
lyn in 1845 [which were designated by the missionaries as 
so perfectly satisfactory to them] ; and that they feel undi- 
minished confidence in the integrity and faithfulness of the 
missionaries. 

The meaning of this seems to be, that sundry pro-slavery 
members or patrons of the Board, disturbed by the strength 
of their theoretical statement of the previous year against 



IN RELATIOxV TO SLAVERY. 145 

shivery, had jumped to the conclusion that their practice was 
to be conformed to it, and had not read the sophistical report 
and correspondence in question with sufficient care to sec 
that the practical difficulty was provided for, and that slave- 
holders were to be rated as Christians just as before. 

The Prudential Committee repeat the artful suggestion 
that their letter to these missions had better not be "adopted" 
by the Board, and announce the reception of — 

XL 

THE REPLY OF THE CHOCTAW MISSION TO THE PRUDENTIAL 
committee's LETTER OF 1848. 

The missionaries repeat, that they feel it their duty not to 
interfere with the legal relations which slaveholders and slaves 
hold to each other ; they refer to the silent acquiescence prac- 
tised by the Board, from the beginning, in their custom of 
admitting slaveholders to the church, and mention again, with 
hearty approval, the Board's deliberate allowance of that 
custom in their Annual Report of 1845, at Brooklyn ; they 
express a Avillingness to comply (as soon as circumstances 
shall permit) with the Committee's request that they will dis- 
continue the hiring of slave labor ; they intimate that it is 
God's business, and not theirs, to bring the system of slavery 
to an end; they slily suggest that the people of the free 
States generally (of course including the Board) are quite 
as much implicated in the tolerance and support of slavery 
as they (the missionaries) are ; they declare that, far from 
being regarded by their parishioners as advocates of slavery, 
they are stigmatized, by some of them, as "abolitionists; "* 
and they assume that now, as heretofore, the preaching of the 

* No doubt the allegation is true, that some of tho Choctaws call thcso 
missionaries " abolitionists." Tlie extonsivo scope with which this word is 
vituperatively used, all over the South, by extremists in the maintenance 
of slavery, may be judged by the following dciinition of an abolitionist, 
taken from The Southern Literary Messenje.r, a magazine published at 
Richmond, Virginia : — 

" An abolitionist is anv man who does not love slavery for its own sake, as a di- 
vine institution; wlio does not worship it us tlie conier-.sloiie of civil liherty; who 
does not aiore it as the only possilile social condition on which a iKM-minuMit repub- 
lican j,'ovcrnineiitcan he erected; and wlio does not, in his irunostsoul, d/-;in". to see 
it extended and perpetuated over the whole earth, as a means of luuuiiii rriOrmatiou 
second in di^'nity, importance and sacredness alone to the Christian religion He 
who does not love Africaa slavery with tliis love is an abolitionist." 



146 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

Gospel [so managed as not to displease or interfere with 
slaveholders] fills up the measure of their duty. 

XII. 

THE CONCLUSION. 

The foregoing proceedings and documents were referred to 
the Business Committee, consisting of Chief Justice Wil- 
liams, Dr. Hopkins, Dr. Thomas De Witt, Dr. Bacon, Sam- 
uel H. Perkins, Esq., Dr. Bond, and Bev. Eli Thurston. 
This body reported that, in their judgment, no further action 
respecting these matters is needed ; and they recommended 
that the papers be left with the Prudential Committee, for 
publication with the other documents of the Board. This 
was done. And the connection of the missions with slavery 
was thus left to continue entirely undisturbed. 

As if to clench the position thus practically taken, (however 
directly opposed to the theoretical statement accompanying 
it,) that piety can flourish just as well among slaveholders as 
elsewhere, the Prudential Committee say of one of these 
missions in the same year, 1849 — 

" No other tribe of Indians has shared so largely in the favor of 
Zion's King as the Choctaws ; and few Christians, in any part of the 
world, liave beheld such displays of the converting and sanctifying 
power of the Holy Spirit, for the last nine years, as have the Choc- 
taw churches." — p. 204. 

The result thus reached — after movements so elaborate as 
the long Report of Dr. Woods in 1845, the journey of Mr. 
Treat to the Indian country, and his Report concerning it, in 
1848, and the subsequent correspondence between the Pru- 
dential Committee and the Cherokee and Choctaw missiona- 
ries in 1848-9 — deserves especial notice, both on account of 
its intrinsic importance, and for the sake of fixing a point 
from which to survey future operations. After feeling the 
influence of such diverse breezes and currents, and after such 
numerous, various and long-continued movements on the part 
of ofiicers, crew, and passengers, we need to assure ourselves of 
the true latitude and longitude; to note the exact position 
of the Board in 1849. 

The missionaries had now been for more than a quarter of 
a century protecting and cherishing slavery in their Cherokee 



IN llELATION TO SLAVERY. 147 

and Choctaw churches, and favoring the practice of slave- 
holding in various other ways. For twelve years, at least, 
(how many more we know not,) urgent remonstrances had 
been addressed to the Board, from time to time, against 
their complicity, direct and indirect, with slavery. When 
these remonstrances could no longer be ignored and neg- 
lected, they were referred to committees; the committees 
made reports that nothing was to be done, the Board voted 
to accept and adopt these reports ; and thus it went on until 
1845, when it seems to have been judged necessary to make 
a show of reasons lohy nothing was to be done. I say, to 
7naJie a show of reasons ! And I use this expression because, 
although the reasons given were self-contradictory and mani- 
festly deceitful, as well as insufficient, the same course of 
policy as before was recommended, showing a foregone con- 
clusion that it should still be adhered to, independently of 
reason and right. 

The self-contradictory character of the positions thus taken 
is so veiled in a profusion of pious words, that I will rehearse 
a few of the principal points of this sort. 

In Dr. Woods's elaborate report in 1845, which not only 
permits, but pleads for, the continued allowance of slavehold- 
ers in the church, it is yet admitted that 

"The unrighteousness of the principles on which the whole sys- 
tem is bascil, and tlie viohitioiis of the natural rights of man, the 
debasement, wickedness, and misery it involves, and which are in 
fact witnessed, to a greater or less extent, wherever it exists, must 
call forth the licarty condemnation of all possessed of Christian feel- 
ing and sense of right, and make its entire and speedy removal an 
ohject of earnest and prayerful desire to everj^ true friend of God 
and man." 

In the Prudential Committee's statement of their princi- 
ples in 1848, through the three Secretaries, it is admitted, 
that slavery is at variance with the principles of the Chris- 
tian religion ; that the Board are directly responsible for the 
teaching of the missionaries, and also for the character of the 
churches, as far as this results from the character and teach- 
ing of the missionaries ; that the Board are bound to employ 
missionaries who deserve confidence; and to dismiss those 
who shall be found undeserving. 

From these i)rcmises it necessarily follows, that it was the 



148 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

duty of the Board to dismiss the Cherokee and Choctaw mis- 
sionaries as soon as it appeared that they were determined to 
receive and retain slavehoklers in the mission churches, and 
to substitute others who would not insist on baptizing with 
the Christian name something " at variance with the princi- 
ples of the Christian religion." It was their duty sponta- 
neously to do this ; and this duty became more manifestly 
urgent with every year that this wickedness was practised, 
and with every remonstrance against it addressed to them by 
their employers, the Christian public. 

Nevertheless, even in the very document which admits 
that the Board are responsible for the teaching of the 
missionaries, and for the dismissal of such as shall be found 
unfaithful, the three Secretaries pass by this last considera- 
tion as if they had not mentioned it, and seek to represent, 
in their conclusion, that the missionaries have been right, 
and the Board right, and their course of policy such as 
should still be continued ! 

Mr. Treat's report of his visit to the Indian country in the 
same year, (1848,) assuming throughout that the slavehold- 
ing members of the mission churches are genuine Christians, 
admits the existence of the following atrocious laws, voted 
by the two nations to which these church members belong, 
without even the pretence that they opposed such laws, or 
that the missionaries called them to account for voting for 
them ! 

The laws of the Cherokees expel free negroes (except a 
certain specified class) from the nation ; forbid the teaching 
of reading and writing alike to free negroes and slaves ; and 
authorize the seizure and sale, at public auction, of the kinds 
of property most easily acquired by slaves, and most bene- 
ficial to them. 

The laws of the Choctaws expel from the nation all who 
actively favor " abolitionism," and provide that the teaching 
of slaves to read, write or sing, or the sitting at table with 
them, shall suffice to convict of this offence ; they provide 
that no slave shall " be in possession of any property ; " that 
free negroes (except a specified class) shall leave the nation 
or be sold as slaves ; that a heavy fine, or a public scourging, 
should be the penalty of hiring, concealing, or in any way 
protecting such free negroes ; and that no slave shall be 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 149 

emancipated except by formal permission of the General 
Council. 

The Cherokee missionaries, in their letter of the same 
year, (1848,) not denying the existence of the above atrocious 
laws, not denying that their church members voted for them, 
and not pretending the exercise of any pastoral influence on 
their part against such voting, declare that they will not 
reject slaveholders from the church, simply because they are 
slaveholders ; that they will not require a pledge against 
slaveholding from a candidate for church membership ; and 
that they will not inflict church discipline for the buying and 
selling of slaves, even when it separates children from their 
parents. 

The Choctaw missionaries — not denying the existence of 
the above atrocious laws, not denying that their church mem- 
bers voted for them, and not pretending the exercise of any 
pastoral influence on their part against such voting — declare 
that they have endeavored as a mission to keep aloof from 
the abolition movement ; that they choose not to adopt 
measures which shall aim eve7i ultimately to undermine 
slavery ; that slavery has long existed in the church of God, 
and that, being quite satisfied with the evidence of piety 
given by the Choctaw slaveholders, they propose still to 
admit them to the mission churches. 

The reply of the Prudential Committee to these two let- 
ters (1848) declares their opinion that " slavery is opposed 
to the principles of the Gospel ; " it however allows the con- 
tinuance of slaveholders in the churches, and the admission 
of more, conceding that such may give ample evidence of 
piety; it strongly urges a discontinuance of the hirimj of 
slave labor by the missionaries ; it gently suggests to them 
the inquiry whether they cannot, in their private teaching 
and their examination of slaveholding candidates for church 
membership, exercise some influence adverse to the worst 
features of the slaveholding system ; and it compliments the 
integrity and devotedness, the faithfulness and success, of 
their missionary labors. 

After all this had been read, in the Annual Meeting of 
1848, the Board added its authentication to the result thus 
reached, by declining to affirm the proposition of Dr. Blan- 
chard — "that slaveholding is a practice which is not to be 



150 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

allo'ved in the Christian church ; " and, in the following 
year, to meet a misapprehension which had gained ground 
among their pro-slavery members and patrons, the Prudential 
Committee took pains to volunteer the declaration, (p. 72, 
Annual Report of 1849,) that the expressions in their letters 
adverse to slavery were only " opinions'*^ entertained by them, 
and in no wise " decisions, or instructions,^'' binding upon the 
missionaries. This distinction, they said, was vital to the 
proper understanding of their letter. 

The whole of the foregoing matter was then (September, 
1849) formally "left with the Prudential Committee." 

It thus appears that, up to that time, nothing whatever 
had been accomplished against the persistent and manifold 
complicity of the Board with slavery, except an urgent 
recommendation, by the Prudential Committee, that the 
Cherokee and Choctaw missionaries should discontinue the 
hiring of slave labor ! And this result seems, for a time, to 
have accomplished its purpose of discouraging the remon- 
strants from further effort. 

In the Annual Meeting of 1850, no further remonstrances 
seem to have been offered against the continuance of slave- 
holders in the mission churches, or against any other form 
of the Board's complicity with slavery. No mention of any 
action on this subject is made in the Annual Report, which 
states that " nothing occurred to disturb the delightful 
harmony " of the meeting. Reports of Committees declare 
that the Cherokee missionaries appear to have labored faith- 
fully, and that the Choctaw mission appears to be in a satis- 
fjictory and encouraging condition. 

A similar silence prevailed in the Annual Meeting, and 
also in the Annual Report, for 1851. 

In the Annual Meeting of 1852, Mr. Secretary Treat 
read a paper, prepared under the direction of the Prudential 
Committee, on " The Success of the Indian Missions." It 
occupies nine pages (pp. 26-35) of the Annual Report for 
that year, unblushingly making the following assertions, in 
spite of the antagonistic evidence given in 1848-9, and with- 
out even the pretence that the shameful laws and customs of 
the Cherokees and Choctaws had changed since that time. 

This paper speaks first of the Choctaws, (the italics are 
those of the Report,) as follows : 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 151 

" 1. ^ large number of the Choctaws are the followers of 

the Lord Jesus Christ.'^ 

" 2. Intemperance among the Choctaivs has been greatly 

curtailed.'" 

" 3. The Choctaws are an agricultural people.'''' 
" 4. Education is highly prized by the Choctaws.''' 
" 5. The Choctaws have a good government.''^ 
Under this last head, the Prudential Committee say — 

" Of the laws which relate to slavery, the Committee have no 
occasion to speak, as they were laid before the Board four years 
ago." 

This shows that those unspeakably wicked laws still re- 
mained the same ; and yet, the Committee declare, " The 
Choctaws have a good government I " 

They speak next of the Cherokees. 

"1. Of the Churches.''^ Satisfactory evidence of piety is 
afforded by the professors of religion, including the slave- 
holders. 

"2. The Cherokees are struggling manfully against the 
evils of intemperance. ''' 

"3. The Cherokees have made great improvement in 
agriculture. ''' 

"4. The Cherokees are advancing in knowledge .''' 

" 5. The Cherokees have an excellent government.'''' 

Under this head, the Prudential Committee say — 

" The usual safeguards for person and property, the rights of con- 
science, &c., are provided. The printed laws of the Ciierokee na- 
tion are more clearly and technically expressed than those of the 
('iioctaws. They are simple and brief, however, and adapted to the 
wants of t\\Q people. Many of the friends of the Cherokees could 
well spare the provisions which relate to slavery; but it is believed 
that correct opinions on this subject are to be found among all 
classes ; more that is encouraging and hopeful the Committee do 
not feel at liberty to say in this pubhc manner." 

Is not the hardihood amazing which can speak in this 
manner of laws which expel free negroes from the Cherokee 
nation? which forbid the teaching of reading and writing 
alike to free negroes and slaves? and which allow slaves to 
be robbed, by public functionaries, of even the little property 
which they can ac(|uire by over-work ? Yet, not only do the 
Prudential Committee call this system of laws, and the Ex- 



152 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

ecntive which puts them in force, '^an excellent government, ^^ 
but the Board, iu view of this deceitful representation of 
" the success of the Indian Missions," adopted the following 
series of resolutions, presented by Dr. Bacon, of New Haven : 

" Resolved, That this Board acknowledges, with gratitude to Him 
who givcth the increase, the success which, in circumstances most 
unfavorable to success, has attended the missions of this Board 
among the American Indians, and particularly the missions to the 
Chorokees and the Choctaws, and accepts that success as conclusive 
evidence that the tribes of the wilderness may be civilized by being 
Christianized. 

''Resolved, That as the advancing civilization of the Cherokee an(J 
Choctaw nations is to be referred, primarily and chiefly, to the intro- 
duction of Christianity among them by missionary labors, so its 
permanence and progress must depend upon the further prosecution 
of those labors ; and it is, therefore, the desire of this Board that 
the Prudential Committee take measures, as early as possible, to 
strengthen the Cherokee and Choctaw missions. 

" Resolved, That the great wrongs which the Indians, and particu- 
larly the South-Western tribes, have suffered in their connection with 
the American people, should incite all who fear God, and all who love 
justice, to renewed efforts for the temporal and eternal welfare of 
that injured race ] so that whether in the form of separate political 
communities, or incorporated as equal fellow-citizens in the great 
American Union, they and their posterity, from age to age, may be 
a living monument to the praise of Christ and to the honor of his 
Gospel." — Ann. Rep. of 1852, pp. 35, 6. 

Neither in this year, nor in 1853, does it appear that any 
further remonstrances were presented against the complicity 
of the Board with slavery. 

On page 48 of the Annual Report of 1853, however, 
appears the following record of the faithfulness with which a 
missionary in Africa opposed slavery there. Mr. Lewis 
Grout, a missionary among the Zulus, mentions the following 
incident. Meeting a company of natives, one of them thus 
addressed him : — 



(( ( < 



Teacher, white man ! We black people do not like the news 
wliich you bring us. We are black, and we like to live in darkness 
and sin. You trouble us; you oppose our customs; you induce our 
children to abandon our practices ; you break up our kraals, and eat 
up our cattle ; you Avill be the ruin of our tribe. And noAv we tell 
you to-day, if you do not cease, we will leave you and all this re- 
gion, and go where the Gospel is not known or heard.' ' But,' said 
I, ' how^ is this ? I oppose your customs, of course, because the word 
of God is opposed to them, and because they are all wrong, and will 
be your certain and endless ruin, if you do not forsake them. Your 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 153 

children I teach, as I do you, to become wise and good and happy. 
But how do I eat up your cattle, and break up your kraals and your 
tribes ? All that I obtain Iruni you I pay for. Do I not ? And I 
souietiines try to do you a good turn "besides.' ' Yes. But you 
teach repentance and faith ; and a penitent believing man is to us as 
good as dead. He no longer takes any pleasure in our pursuits, 
and no longer labors to build up his father's kraal ; but he leaves it, 
and joins the church ; and then he tries to lead others away to the 
station after him. And as to our cattle, our girls and our women 
ai-e our cattle ; but you teach that they are not cattle, and ought not 
to be sold for cattle, but to be taught and clothed, and made the ser- 
vants of God, and not the slaves of men. That is the way you eat 
up our cattle. Many have left us, and been engulphed at the sta- 
tion; and more wish to leave us. And now, if you continue these 
labors and instructions, we shall just leave you, and go to another 
country.' " 

What an amazing contrast is here presented to the conduct 
of the missionaries among the Cherokees and Choctaws! 
The African missionary makes such a faithful presentation 
of the utter incompatibility between a Christian life on one 
hand, and the treating of human beings like cattle on the 
other, that those who are determined to buy and sell women, 
to treat them like cattle, and to prevent their learning to 
read and write, recognize this incompatibility, and do not 
pretend to be Christians, or ask the missionary to certify 
them as such by admission to the church. And thus the 
African missionary at once preserves his own integrity, and 
secures the purity of his church, in this particular. 

How different the conduct of the Cherokee and Choctaw 
missionaries ! They too were sent among a heathen people, 
who were accustomed to treat a class of human beings as 
cattle ; to buy and sell them. They made no objection to 
this. They received the buyers and sellers of human beings 
as worthy members of the churches they established, and 
among the earliest members of those churches. When, after- 
wards, a movement was made by other persons against the 
treating of human beings like cattle, these missionaries care- 
fully held themselves aloof from it, declining even to favor 
measures which should ''in the end'' undermine this wicked 
system. When, still later, the human cattle-dealers whom 
they called Christians had copied the forms of civilization 
sufficiently to frame their iniquity into a system of laws, 
enacting that certain men and women inight be bought and 

It 



154 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

sold, but should not be taught to read, the missionaries still 
acquiesced j still rauked the buyers and sellers as Christians; 
and still held themselves aloof from vindication of the rights 
of the unfortunates who were bought and sold ! 

The disgraceful picture is not complete until we look at 
the time-serving course of the employers of both these classes 
of missionaries, the Prudential Committee of the American 
Board, who have used these diametrically opposite measures 
in their treatment of slaveholding and slave-trading in two 
different countries. 

When their missionary away off in Africa denounces slave- 
holding as sin, teaching that human beings " are not cattle, 
and ought not to be sold for cattle, but ought to be taught," 
they approvingly echo his statement, printing it in their 
Annual E-eport. 

On the other hand, when their missionaries in this country 
silently acquiesce in the human-cattle system, receive its 
traders into their churches as Christians, hold themselves 
aloof from the opposers of it, quote the Bible in support of 
it, and declare all this to be their settled purpose for the 
future, the Prudential Committee give, first silent acquies- 
cence, and then extenuation and defence, even at the expense 
of truth as well as of justice ! 

Still further : when their missionaries in a third quarter 
of the globe, feeling the disastrous influence of the American 
human-cattle system upon their own labors, used their only 
effective means of operation (the Sandwich Islands mission 
press) to make appeal to their American brethren against this 
sin, the Prudential Committee suppressed and smothered 
this appeal, and immediately caused a law to be passed, for- 
bidding such action of their missionaries in futui'e ! 

What is the occasion of this opposite treatment, by the 
Prudential Committee, of two precisely similar cases ? Is 
it any thing else but the fact that some of the clerical brethren 
of these Ileverend gentlemen, some of the pillars of the 
several religious denominations to which they belong, and 
some of the Corporate and Honorary members of the Board 
who employ them, are personally interested in the human- 
flesh market, living on its wages of sin, and pledged to its 
support ? 

If this be not the reason, what is? 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 155 

In the very Annual Report for 1858, from which I have 
last been quoting, appears another evidence that the Pruden- 
tial Committee are willing to speak against slavery, and to 
maintain the right of freedom, except where American slavery 
is concerned! 

In their report for this year on the Sandwich Islands, 
(pp. 1 06 -153,) the Prudential Committee announce that 
" the people of the Sandwich Islands are a Christian Na- 
tion"; and that the ministry and churches of those islands, 
having become "an independent Christian community," will be 
no longer under the direction of the Board, or responsible to it. 
The Prudential Committee congratulate themselves on their 
success among this people, and thankfully recognize their 
appropriate work as a Foreign Missionary Society as com- 
pleted. Part of this statement is a contrast between the 
former and present condition of this people. 

Among the specifications of its heathen condition, they say 
(p. 142) : " The land was owned by the king and his chiefs, 
ayid the people were slaves^ 

Among the details of their converted state are the follow- 
ing, expressing their attainment of the rights of freedom and 
of education. They are said (pp. 148, 4) to be " united 
under one balanced government ; rallied to the fold of civi- 
lization by a written language and constitution, promdinrj 
security for the rights of persons, property and mind, and 
invested with all the elements of right and power which can 
entitle them to be acknowledged by their brethren of the 
human race as a separate and independent community." 

Such is the difference between the Board's treatment of 
slavery in America and slavery in Africa. 

Let it be noted, that up to this time, 1853, there is no 
evidence that the Cherokee and Choctaw missionaries exer- 
cised the slightest influence against slaveholding, either in 
their churches, or among the other people of those nations, 
or that the Board required them to attempt such a policy. 
While, on the other hand, abundant evidence has been shown 
that those missionaries, with the allowance of the Board, did 
exert an efficient influence towards making slavery reputable 
among those nations, and thus towards its continuance and 
perpetuity. 

In the years 1854 and 1855 there was much movement, 



156 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

bj the Prudential Committee and the Secretaries, respecting 
a matter connected with shivery, giving rise to elaborate 
reports, hereafter to be quoted. But it was movement with- 
out progress, precisely resembling the execution, by a mili- 
tary body, of the following orders, — "Advance two paces! " 
— "Mark time !" — "Retreat to your former position ! " 

The reason for the making of this movement (which was 
unmade the next year) seems to have been the appearance 
of an interference by the Choctaw Council with the profes- 
sional action of the missionaries. Examination showed (as 
Mr. Secretary Wood formally testifies) that the missionaries 
had not done, and did not propose to do, the things forbidden 
by the Council, and then (1855) it was decided to proceed as 
before, without regard to the disrespectful form of the Choc- 
taw edict. 

The proceedings above referred to commence on page 23 
of the Annual Heport for 1854, and are as follows: — 

" The Committee on the missions among the Choctaws, Chero- 
kees and Dakotas made a report, which, after having been re- 
committed and amended, was adopted by the Board, and is in the 
following words: — 

" * The Committee on the missions to the Choctaws, the Chero- 
kees and the Dakotas would report, that they have seen wuth much 
satisfaction the statements of the Prudential Committee respecting 
the progress of religion among the Choctaws during the past year. 
The faithful labors of the missionaries have been abundantly bless- 
ed ; while labors, no doubt as faithful, among the Cherokees, have 
not been attended with similar blessings. Among the Dakotas, 
whose migratory habits render the constant preaching of the Word 
a far more difficu4t matter, but little comparative success was to be 
expected ; while yet among one branch, the Wahpetons, some 
cheering facts are reported. 

" ' The relations of the Board to the schools connected with the 
Choctaw mission have been essentially changed during the past 
year. In November last, the Choctaw Council enacted certain 
laws, one of which forbids that any "slave, or the children of 
slaves, shall be taught to read or write, in or at any school or 
academy in the nation, by any person w'homsoever, or connected in 
any manner wiiatever, either a superintendent, missionary, teacher, 
farmer, matron, pupil or otherwise, with any school or academy in 
the nation, under pain of dismissal from such school and removal 
out of the nation, in case the person offending is not a citizen of the 
Choctaw nation." Another provision of the same law is as follows : 
" It shall be the duty of the General Superintendent and Trustees 
of schools to be vigilant in the performance of their functions, and 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 157 

promptly remove, or report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
for removal, according to the nature of the contract between the 
Choctaw nation and the different boards of missions having charge 
of public schools and academies, any and all persons who may be 
connected therewith, who is or are known to be abolitionists, or 
who disseminate, or attempt to disseminate, directly or indirectly, 
abolition doctrines, or any other ftmatical sentiments, which in their 
opinion are dangerous to the peace and safety of the Choctaw 
people." 

" ' The same body also passed a joint resolution, authorizing the 
Trustees to propose to the various boards of missions, having 
charge of Choctaw academies or schools, to insert in their contracts 
with the Choctaw nation a clause providing for the termination of 
such contracts by either party on giving six months' notice. 

" ' When the Prudential Committee heard of the enactment of 
these laws, they decided at once that they could not carry on the 
schools on this new and unequal basis ; and with them in their 
decision the missionaries concur. We doubt not that the unanimous 
concurrence of the Board Avill sanction tliis decision. The Choctaw 
Council are supreme in their jurisdiction over their national schools ; 
neither our missionaries nor the Board can control them. But 
provisions so anti-Ciiristian and unjust we are required to disapprove 
and condemn without any qualification, so far as our refusal to act 
in accordance with them is such a condemnation. 

" ' These provisions, it should be remarked, do not restrict the 
missionaries in their preaching. They are stiU permitted to declare 
the whole counsel of God, on all subjects, and to all individuals, 
without any interference by legislation or otherwise ; neither are 
we autliorized to affirm that any such interference is contemplated. 
Should any such restrictions, unhappily, be hereafter imposed, we 
cannot doubt that the Board will determine at once, through the 
rrudential Committee, to withdraw their missionaries fi'om the 
Choctaws. 

" * The other provision, requiring the removal from the nation of 
" abolitionists," and of all persons disseminating fanatical sentiments, 
if we are to interpret it by the common meaning given to such 
hmguage, is only to be deplored, as indicating hostility to freedom 
and to the Gospel, which augurs disastrous results among that 
people. 

" ' We would remark on one other topic. The murderous con- 
tests between detached parties of the Dakotas and the Ojibwas are 
so frequent as to threaten the speedy extinction of the two tribes. 
AVe concur in the suggestion of the Prudential Committee, that it 
is exceedingly desirable that the United States should pass a law, 
punishing every such case of homicide with death. In no other 
manner, as we apprehend, can this evil be arrested.^ 

" The same Committee reported certain resolutions, which were 
discussed, and finally adopted in the following form: — 

" ' Resolved, That the Board acknowledge with gratitude to God 
the wisdom and fidelity with which, so far as appears from the docu- 



158 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

ments submitted to them, the Prudential Committee are advising 
and directing- the missionaries among tlie Clioctaws, in conformity 
with the principles asserted by them in their correspondence with 
those missions, reported to the Board in 1848. 

" ' Resolved, That the decision of the Prudential Committee, with 
the concurrence of the missionaries, not to conduct the boarding- 
schools in the Choctaw nation, in conformity with the principles 
prescribed by the recent legislation of the Choctaw Council, meets 
the cordial approbation of tlie Board. 

" ' Resolved, That the commission given by Christ to his disciples 
to go and teach all nations, and to preach the Gospel to every 
creature, which is tlie warrant of Christian missions, is to be 
respected and obeyed in all the operations and by all the mission- 
aries of this Board ; and that while our missionaries among the 
Choctaws are allowed, in fact, to preach the Gospel to all persons, 
of whatever complexion or condition, as they liave opportunity, 
and to preach it in all its applications to human character and duty, 
they are to continue patiently in their work.' 

"While the discussion on the foregoing report and resolutions 
was in progress, the following preamble and resolution were 
offered for the consideration of the Board: — 

" * Whereas, several of the matters pertaining to this case are in 
an inchoate state, being j^et matters of unfinished correspondence 
between our executive officers and the authorities and missionaries 
in the Choctaw nation ; and whereas differences of opinion exist 
among the officers and members of this Board as to tlie true con- 
struction and import of the recent legislation of the Choctaw 
nation ; and whereas this Board cherishes the utmost confidence 
both in its Prudential Committee and the Choctaw missionaries, 
therefore be it 

" ' Resolved, That the several documents pertaining to this sub- 
ject be referred to the same Committee, to consider and report at the 
next annual meeting, in the hope that the authenticated and com- 
pleted facts pertaining to this case will at the same time lead this 
Board to perfect unanimity of sentiment and action.' 

" The vote was taken by yeas and nays, with the following re- 
sult: — 

" Yeas — Aaron Warner, Bennet Tyler, David L. Ogden, Thos. 
H. Skinner, Eeuben H. Walworth, Horace Holden, William 
Adams, Joel Parker, Robert W. Condit, William F. Allen, Theo- 
dore Frelinghuysen, David Maoie, Puchard T. Haines, Ansel D. 
Eddy, Benjamin C. Taylor, D^avid H. Puddle, John H. Cocke, 
Chauncey Eddy, William II. Brown. 

" Nays — Enoch Pond, Levi Cutter, Benjamin Tappan, John W. 
Ellingwood, William T. Dwight, Asa Cummings, Zedekiah 8. 
Barstow, John Woods, John K. Young, David Greene, Charles 
AValker, Silas Aiken, Joseph Steele, William Allen, Lyman 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 159 

l^occhcr, Ileman Humphrey, John Tappan, Henry Hill, Charles 
Stoddard, Nehemiah Adams, Horatio Bardvvell, Ebcnezer Alden, 
Kiehard S. Storrs, Swan L. Pomroy, Selali ?>. Treat, William J. 
Hubbard, Linus Child, Ilmry li. Hooker, Baxter Dickinson, 
Samuel M. Worcester, Daniel Sallbrd, John Todd, John Kings- 
bury, Koah Porter, Joel Hawes, Thomas W. Williams, Edward 
W. Hooker, Alvan Bond, Leonard Bacon, Henry White, Joel H. 
Linsley, Andrew W. Porter, Pelatiah Perit, Hiram H. Seelye, 
Charles Mills, William Patton, Henry W. Taylor, Charles J. 
Stedman, Henry A. Nelson, (k'orge W. Wood, Asa D. Smith, 
Oliver E, A\'ood, Samuel II. Perkins, Julian M. Sturtevant, John 
C. Holbrook, John W. Chickering, Seth Sweetser, James M. 
Gordon, Samuel W. S. Dutton." 

The adoption of the above report, and of the three resolu- 
tions which follow it, (which ascribe faithfulness in labor to 
the missionaries, and wisdom and fidelity to the Prudential 
Committee,) and the rejection, by a very large vote, after an 
excited discussion, of a subsequent preamble and resolution, 
(expressing the existence of " differences of opinion among 
the officers and members of the Board,") show not only a 
general approval by the Board of the position of the Pruden- 
tial Committee and of the missionaries, but a determination 
to maintain the independence of the missionaries, and to repel 
even the appearance of disrespect to them in the action of the 
Choctaw Council. 

The Prudential Committee, at the close of their account of 
the Annual Meeting of 1854, refer to this report, and the 
debate upon it, as follows : — 

" The debate which grew out of tlie report on tlie Choctaw 
mission awakened a general and absorbing interest. The question 
was ultimately narrowed to a single point, namely, ' Shall the 
general principles of the letter addressed by the Prudential Com- 
mittee to the ChoctaAv mission, in 1848, receive the express sanction 
of the Board 1 ' It was admitted that these principles had received 
an impUed sanction. In fact, there could have been no controversy 
on this point. A Committee on this letter and other documents re- 
commended to the meeting of 1848, ' that the whole subject should 
be left for the present' 'in the hands of the Prudential Com- 
mittee;' which recommendation was adopted by the Board. Kor 
was this all. The Prudential Conmiittee were all re-elected at that 
meeting; and they have been re-chosen annually, except in case of 
death or removal, from that time to this. They have felt, therefore, 
that their views must be considered as having the implied sanction 
of the Board ; and they have acted accordingly. In no particular 



IGO THE AMERICAN BOARD 

would their course liave been different, had a vote of approbation 
been passed in any previous year. ' Is it expedient then for the 
Board to say in words what it has been saying for six years by its 
acts ? ' Tliat was the question. And it is not strange that there 
should have been some diversity of sentiment in reference to it. 
The surprise is rather, that there should have been so much 
unanimity in the final vote. 

" Seldom has an exciting discussion been followed by sncli 
exhibitions of a kind and fraternal spirit. It was worth passing 
through the storm, to enjoy such a sweet and hallowed calm." — pp. 
45,0. 

In the Annual Report for 1855, the action of the Pruden- 
tial Committee — reversing their last year's decision, and 
authorizing the continuance of the boarding-schools, in spite 
of the objectionable new laws of the Choctaw Council — 
appears in the following paragraph, p. 129 : — 

" Educational Labors. 

" The last Report apprised the Board of certain changes which 
the Choctaw Council had made in their school laws. The Commit- 
tee stated their reluctance ' to believe that such legislation truly and 
faithfully ' expressed ' the sentiments of the Choctaw nation ; ' but 
they did not deem it safe to predict any formal modification thereof. 
The enactments to which exception was taken remain unrepealed; 
but, on the other hand, there has been no attempt to enforce them. 
Nor do the missionaries see any reason for supposing that they will 
be enforced hereafter. In these circumstances, the Committee have 
authorized the continuance of the boarding-schools at Stockbridgo, 
Wheelock and Pine Kidge for the present. A special communica- 
tion will be made to the Board, however, which will explain this 
matter more fully ; to that the Committee beg leave to refer." 

The reason for this sudden change is concealed in such a 
voluminous mass of subsequent matter, that, though it will 
be quoted hereafter in its proper connection, in Mr. Secre- 
tary Wood's report, its use in explaininr; the action of the 
Prudential Committee will be best served by giving the pur- 
port of it here also. 

However disrespectful hi form were the new laws of the 
Choctaw Council, (providing that any missionary found to be 
an abolitionist, or found teaching reading or writing to slaves, 
or the children of slaves, in the schools, should be expelled 
from the Nation,) it was found that these laws would not at 
all affect the missionaries in fact. For. first, these mission- 
aries were not abolitionists, as has manifestly appeared from 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 



161 



their whole course of language* and action ; and next, in 
regard to the teaching of slaves, Mr. Wood positively testi- 
fies (p. 23 of Ann. Hep. for 1855) : — 

" The teaching of slaves in these schools has never leen 
'practised or contemplated " ! 

The policy of the missionaries had spontaneously gone side 
by side with the pro-slavery legislation of the Choctaw 
Council. 

The full action of the Prudential Committee and of the 
Board in regard to the Cherokee and Choctaw missions, in- 
cluding the famous " Good-water Statement," by which the 
continued allowance of slaveholders in the mission churches 
was confirmed, is herewith subjoined. It covers eleven 
closely printed pages. In connection with the "Good-water 
Statement," Mr. Wood quotes, adopting it as a part of his 
report, the famous " Act of the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church in 1818," by the allowance of which 
Presbyterians in this country have ever since been accustomed 
to hold, breed, buy and sell slaves. These proceedings of the 
Board commence on page 19 of the Annual Bcport for 1855, 
as follows : — 

" THE CHOCTAW AND CHEROKEE MISSIONS. 

" The Prudential Committee, at an early stage of the meeting, 
submitted a special communication in reference tothe Choctaw 
and Cherokee missions, in which they say : — ' Since the last 
meeting of the Board, it has seemed desirable that one of the 
Secretaries should visit the Indian missions in the South- West, for 
the purpose of conferring fully and freely with them in reference 
to certain questions which have an important bearing upon their 
work. Mr. Wood, therefore, was directed to perform this service, 
which he did in the spring of the present year. After his return 

*For instance: on p. 511 of the Public Documents of the U. S. Senate 
(2d session, 1858, 9) may be seen, at the close of a letter written by one 
of the Choctaw missionaries to " Douglass Cooper, United States Agent" — 
dated " Goodland, Choctaw Nation, Oct. 4, 1858"— the following designa- 
tion of the charge of abolitionism against them as preposterous as well as 
false: — 

" We have born accused, too, of beirp abolitionists, and the emissaries of abolition 
societies. Tiiblic nun oiitjlit not to bctrav so much i,i;iiorance of missionaries and 
mi-^sionarv operations so near Imme, and witii so many sources of information witliin 
tlieir reach. 'J he i)ositioii of the Cliocta-vv missidnarics on this sul)jcct i.s so well 
VKDETisTOOD IN iHE KF.LiGioi s coMMV KiTY, that wc caiiuot bclieve tliosc who 
make these charges to bo honest in doing so. u O p STAKI' " 



162 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

to New York, he drew up a report of this visit, and presented the 
same to tlie Prudential Committee. It is deemed proper that this 
document should be laid before the Board at the earliest opportu- 
nity ; and it is herewith submitted. The results obtained by this 
conference are highly satisfactory to the Committee.' 

" The report of Mr. Wood is in the following language : — 

" ' To the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners 
for Foreign Missions : — 

" ' I have to report a visit made by me to the Choctaw and Chero- 
kee missions, in obedience to instructions contained in the following 
resolutions adopted by you, March 6, 1855 : — 

"Resolved, 1. That Mr. "Wood be requested to repair to the Choctaw 
Nation, at his earliest conveaience, with a view to a fraternal conference 
with the brethren in that field, in respect to the difficulties and embarrass- 
ments which have grown out of the action of the Choctaw Council in the 
matter of the boarding-schools, and also in respect to any other question 
which may seem to require his attention. 

" 2. That, in case the spring meeting of the Choctaw mission shall not 
occur at a convenient time, he be authorized to call a meeting at such 
time and place as he shall designate. 

" 3. That on his return from the Choctaw mission, he be requested to 
confer with the brethren of the Cherokee mission, in regard to any matter 
that may appear to call for his consideration, and that he be authorized to 
call a meeting for this purpose. 

" 4. That on arriving in New York, he be instructed to prepare a 
report, suggesting such plans and measures for the adoption of the Com- 
mittee in reference to either of these missions as he may be able to recom- 
mend." 

" ' Leaving New York, March 19, and proceeding by the way of 
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Napole(m, thence up the White 
river, across to Little Kock, and through Arkansas to the Choctaw 
country, I arrived at Stockbridge, April 11. Including the portions 
of the days occupied in passing from one station to another, I de- 
voted three days 'to Stockbridge, three to Wheelock, six to Pine 
Ridge, three to Good-water, and three to Spencer; the latter a sta- 
tion of the mission of the General Assembly's Board. Five days, 
with a call of a night and half a day at Lenox, were occupied in the 
journey to the Cherokee country, in which I spent two days at 
Dwight, and three at Park Hill ; my departure from which was on 
the lltliofMay, just one month from my arrival at Stockbridge. 
My return to New York was on May 31, ten and a half weeks from 
the time of leaving it. 

"'I should do injustice to my own feelings, and to the members 
of the two missions, not to state that my reception was every where 
one of the utmost cordiality. The Choctaw mission, when my 
coming was announced, agreed to observe a daily concert of prayer, 
that it might be blessed to them and the end for which they were 
informed it was designed. They met me in the spirit of prayer ; 
our intercourse was much a fellowship in prayer ; and, through the 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 163 

favor of Him who ho.iretli prayer, its issue was one of mutual coii- 
gratulatiou and tiianksgivin^. 

"'The visit, altliough a sliort one, afforded considerable opportu- 
nity (wliich was diligently improved) for acquainting myself with 
ihe views, feelings, plans and labors of the brethren of the missions. 
Their attachment to their work and to the Board with which they 
are connected is unwavering. With fidelity they prosecute the 
great object of their higli calling ; and in view of the spiritual and 
temporal transformation taking place around them, as the result of 
the faithful proclamation of the Gospel, we are compelled to exclaim, 
" What hath God wrought ! " It was pleasant to meet them, as 
with frankness and fraternal affection they did me, in consultation 
for the removal of difficulties and the adoption of measures for the 
advancement of the one end desired equally by them and by the 
Prudential Committee. 

" ' Several topics became subjects of conference, on some of which 
action was taken by the missions ; and on others recommendations 
will be made by the Deputation, that need not be embraced in this 
report. In respect to them all, there was entire harmony between 
the Deputation and the missions. 

" ' In their first resolution, the Committee requested me to repair 
to the Choctaw Nation, with special reference to the embarrassments 
and difficulties which have grown out of the action of tiie Choctaw 
Coimcil in the matter of the boarding-scliools. A condensed state- 
ment of the action of the Council, and of the missionaries and Pru- 
dential Committee, previous to the sending of the Deputation, seems 
to be here called for. 

" * In the year 1842, the Choctaw Council, by law, placed four 
female seminaries "under the direction and management of the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions," subject 
only to " the conditions, limitations and restrictions rendered in the 
act." In accordance with the act, a contract was entered into, by 
which the schools were taken for a period of twenty years. The 
"conditions, limitations and restrictions" specified in the act and 
contract, so far as they bind the Board, are the following : 1. The 
superintendents and teachers, with their families, shall board at the 
same tiible witii tlie pupils. 2. In addition to letters, the pupils 
shall be taught housewifery and sewing. 3, One-tenth of the pupils 
are to be orphans, should so many apply for admission. 4. The 
Board shall appropriate to the schools a sum equal to one-sixth of 
the monies appropriated by the Clioctaw Council. With these ex- 
ceptions, the " direction and management " of the schools were to 
be as exclusively with the Board, as of any schools supported by the 
funds of the Board. 

" ' Thus the schools were carried forward until 1853. At the 
meeting of the Council in that year, a new school law, containing 
several provisions, (and sometimes spoken of in the plural as 
"laws,") was enacted, bringing the Board, through its agents, 
under new " conditions, restrictions, and limitations." A Board of 
Trustees was established, and a General Superintendent of schools 
provided for, to discharge various specified duties, for the faithful 
performance of which they are to give bonds in the sum of §5,000. 



164 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

The enactments of this la-vr, affecting the agents of the Board under 
the existing contract, are the following : — 

"'1. The Board of Trustees, convened by the General Superintendent, 
are to hear and determine diflBculties between a Trustee and any one con- 
nected -with the schools; to judge of the fitness of teachers, &c., and re- 
quest the Missionary Boards to remove any -whose removal they may think 
called for; and, in case of neglect to comply Tvith their wishes, to report 
the same to the Commissioner of Indian Aflairs through the United States 
Agent. Section 5. 

' " 2. The Trustees are to select the scholars from their several districts. 
Section 7. 

" ' 3. No slave or child of a slave is to be taught to read or write " in or at 
any school," etc., by any one connected in any capacity therewith, on pain 
of dismissal and expulsion from the nation. Section 8. 

" ' 4. Annual examinations are to take place at times designated by the 
General Superintendent. Section 10. 

" ' 5. The Trustees are empowered to suspend any school in case of sick- 
ness or epidemics. Section 11. 

" ' 6. It is made the duty of the General Superintendent and Trustees 
promptly to remove, or report for removal, any and all persons connected 
with the public schools or academies known to be abolitionists, or who 
disseminate, or attempt to disseminate, directly or indirectly, abolition 
doctrines, or any other fanatical sentiments, which, in their opinion, are 
dangerous to the peace and safety of the Choctaw people. Section 13. 

" 'By a separate act, the Board of Trustees was authorized to pro- 
pose to the Missionary Boards, having schools under contract with 
the Nation, the insertion of a clause providing for a termination of 
the contract by either part}^, on giving six months' notice. 

" ' With respect to the question, " Shall we submit to the pro- 
visions and restrictions imposed by this new legislation, as a con- 
dition of continued connection with the national schools ? " the 
views of the Prudential Committee and the brethren of the mission 
have been entirely in declared agreement. As stated in the last 
Annual Report to the Board, (p. 166,) "the Committee decided at 
once that they could not carry on the schools upon the new basis ; 
and in the propriety of this action the missionaries concur." The 
concurrence of the missionaries in this view, viz., that they could 
not carry on the schools with a change from the original basis to 
that of the new law, may be seen clearly expressed in their corre- 
spondence with the Secretary having charge of the Indian missions, 
particularly in the following communications : From Messrs. Kings- 
bury and Byington, as the committee of the mission, under dates of 
December 14 and 27, 1853 ; Mr. Kingsbury, January 4 and April 25, 
1854 ; Mr. C. C. Copeland, March 1, 1854 ; Mr. Stark, August 22, 
1854 ; Mr. Edwards, July 13, 1854 ; Mr. H. K. Copeland, May 16, 
1854. See also letters from Mr. Chamberlain, January 7 and June 
20, 1854. In some of these, the declaration is made, that, in the 
apprehension of the writers, the schools must be relinquished, if the 
laiv should not be repcahd ; one specilying, as justificatory reasons, 
the breach of contract made, and the increased difficulty of obtain- 
ing teachers — reasons also assigned by others ; another stating that 
he " never could consent to take charge of a school under such reg- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 165 

ulations ; " a third testifying, not only for himself, but for every 
other member of the mission, an unwillingness to continue connec- 
tion with the schools with subjection to the new requirements ; a 
fourth affirming his " feeling " to be " tbat a strong remonstrance 
should be presented to the Council, and on the strength of it, let the 
mission lay down these schools ; " which, he states, would not in- 
volve " giving up the instruction of these children, but would be 
simply changing the plan," inasmuch as, according to his and others' 
understanding of the case, the new law not having application to 
other than the national schools, "at every station it will be found 
an easy matter to have as large, and in some cases even larger, than 
our present boarding-schools." 

" ' In certain other communications, the view which the Commit- 
tee adopted is exhibited, together with the opinion that it would be 
better to wait for a movement on the part of the Choctaw author- 
ities, before giving up the schools. See letters from Mr. Byington, 
December 26, 1853 ; January 3 and 12, April 15, 1851 ; ]Mr. Kings- 
bury, Februar}' 1 and 21, 1851; Mr. Chamberlain, January 13, 
1851 ; Mr. Stark, February 6, 1851. This view^ w^as also formally 
announced, as understood by the Committee, in resolutions of the 
mission at its meeting in May, 1851, embracing a recommendation 
of a course of procedure with the hope of securing the I'c peal, by the 
next Council, of the obnoxious law. See Minutes, and letters of 
Mr. C. C. Copeland, May lU and June 9, 1854. The Prudential 
Committee, in the exercise of their discretion, as a principal party 
to the contract, preferred another method, viz., to address the Coun- 
cil directly, and sent a letter, under date of August 1, 1851, to one 
of the missionaries for presentation. The missionary, with the 
advice of his brethren, given at their meeting in September, (intel- 
ligence of which was received at the Missionary House, October 20, 
thirty-five days subsequent to the meeting of the Board at Hartford,) 
withheld the letter, on the ground that, in their judgment, its pre- 
sentation would defeat the object at which it aimed, and be " disas- 
trous to the churches, to the Choctaws, and to the best interests of 
the colored race." In respect to this action for obtaining the repeal 
of the school law, there was a difference between the mission and 
the Committee. The missionaries desired delay, and the leaving 
of the matter to their management. The decision of the Committee, 
approved by the Board, "not to conduct the boarding-schools in the 
Choctaw nation in conformity with the principles prescribed by the 
recent legislation of the Choctaw Council," * was in agreement with 
the previously and subsequently expressed sentiments of all the 
missionaries ; the objection felt by some of them to this resolution 
being, not to the position which it assumes, but to the declaration 
of it at that time by the Board. This being a determined question, 
its settlement formed no part of the object for which the Deputation 
was sent. 

" ' Two other questions, however, required careful examination ; 
and on these, free conference was had with the brethren at their 



Rcsolutiuu of the Board adopted at Hartford. 



166 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

stations, and in a meeting of the mission held at Good-water, April 
25 and 26, Mr. Edwards, who was absent from the mission, and Dr. 
Hobbs, not being present : 1. The law remaining unrepealed, is it 
practicable to carry on the schools wliile refusing conformity to the 
new "conditions, limitations and restrictions" imposed by if? 
2. If so, is it expedient to do it ? 

" ' On the first of these questions, the opinion of the missionaries 
was in tlie alHrmative. No attempt has been made to carry out 
these new provisions. The Trustees and General Superintendent 
have not given the required bond. One of the Trustees informed 
me that he should not give it, and that, in his belief, the law would 
remain a dead letter, if not repealed, as it was his hope that it would 
be. The course of the missionaries has been in no degree changed 
by it. The teaching of slaves in these schools has never been 
practised or contemplated. The law Avas aimed at such teaching in 
their families and Sabbath schools. So the missionaries and the 
people understand it. It is generally known among the latter that 
the former are ready to give up these schools, rather than retain 
them on condition of subjection to this law. Our brethren are now 
carrying on the schools, and doing, in all other respects, just as they 
were before the new law was enacted ; and they have confidence 
that they may continue to do so. 

" ' The second question was one of more uncertainty to my own 
mind, and in the minds of some of the mission. The maintenance 
of these schools is a work of great difficulty. In the opinion of 
several of the missionaries, it was at least doubtful whether the cost 
in health, perplexity, trouble in obtaining teachers, time which 
might be devoted to preaching, and money, was not too great for 
the results ; and it was suggested that an opportunity, afforded by 
divine Providence for relieving us from a burden too heavy to sus- 
tain for nine years longer, should be embraced. See letters from 
Ur. Hotchkin, March 21, 1854 ; Mr. H. K. Copeland, January 23 
and July 27, 185dt ; Mr. Lansing, December 22, 185o, and JNIay 13, 
1854. The fact and manner of the suspension of the school at 
Good-water, in 1853, were portentous of increasing embarrassment 
from other causes than the new school law ; and grave objections 
exist to the connection with civil government of any department of 
missionary operations. 

" ' My observation of the schools, however, interested me much 
in their behalf. They are doing a good work for the nation. Many 
of the pupils become Christian wives, mothers and teachers. The 
people api)reciate them highly ; and I was assured of a general 
desire that they should remain in the hands of the mission, unsub- 
jected to the inadmissible new conditions of the recent legislation. 
In view of all the relations, which after full consideration the sub- 
ject seemed to have, the following resolution, expressing the senti- 
ment of the Deputation and the mission, was cheerfully and 
unanimously adopted by the mission ; one of the older members, 
however, avowing some difficulty in giving his assent to the latter 
part of it, viz : 

" Resolved, That while we should esteem it our duty to relinquish the 
female boarding-schools at Pino Kidge, AYheelock and fc>toukbritlge, rather 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 167 

than to carry them on under the provisions and restrictions of the late 
school law, yet, regarding it as improbable that the requirement so to do 
will be enforced, we deem it important, in the present circumstances of the 
Choctaw Nation and mission, to continue our connection with them o7i the 
original basis, and carry them forward Avith new hope and energy." 

" ' Our hope of being allowed to maintain these schools as hereto- 
fore, and make them increasingly useful, may be disappointed. 
Neither the Prudential Committee nor the mission wish to retain 
them, if they for whose benefit alone they have been taken prefer 
that w^e should give them up. The relinquishment of them would 
be a release from a weight of labor, anxiety and care, that nothing 
but our love for the Choctaws could induce us longer to bear. Our 
desire is only to do them good. 

" 'A second subject of conference, but the one first considered, was 
the principles, particularly in relation to slavery, on which the Pru- 
dential Committee, Avith the formally expressed approbation of the 
Board, aim to conduct its missions. I found certain misajjpre- 
hensions existing in the minds of a portion of the mission in regard 
to the origin and circumstances of the action of the Board at the 
last annual meeting, which I was happy to correct. Several of the 
members, including one of the two not present at this meeting of 
the mission, have ever cordially approved the correspondence in 
which the vicAvs of principles entertained by the Committee Avere 
stated. Others, being with those just referred to a decided majority 
of the wiiole body as at present constituted, have expressed their 
agreement Avith those vicAvs as freely explained in personal inter- 
course, with an exhibition of the intended meaning of his OAvn 
■written language, by the Secretary who Avas the organ of the Com- 
mittee in communicating them. Others have supposed themselves 
to differ, in some degree, from these principles, Avhen correctly ap- 
prehended. A full comparison of vieAvs, to their mutual great satis- 
faction, showed much less difference than Avas thought to exist be- 
tAveen the members of the mission themselves, and between a part 
of the mission and Avhat the Deputation understands to be the vieAvs 
of the Prudential Committee. A statement of principles draAvn up 
at Good-water, as being, in the estimation of the Deputation, (dis- 
tinctly and repeatedly so declared,) those which the Committee had 
set forth in their correspondence, particularly that had Avith the 
mission in 1848, Avas unanimously adopted, as the brethren say, 
"for the better and more harmonious prosecution of the great ob- 
jects of the ChoctaAv mission on the part of the Prudential Commit- 
tee and the members of the mission, and for the removal of any and 
all existing difficulties Avhicli have groAvn out of public discussions 
and action on the subject of slavery ; it being understood that the 
sentiments noAv approved are not, in the estimation of the brethren 
of the mission, ncAv, but such as for a long series of years have 
really been held by them." 

" ' The statement is given, Avith the appended resolution, in the 
following Avords : 

" ' 1. Slavery, as a system, and in its OAvn proper nature, is what 
it is described to be, m the General Assembly's Act of 1818, and 
the Report of the American Board adopted at Brooklyn in 1845. 



168 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

" ' 2. Privation of liberty in holding slaves is, therefore, not to be 
ranked with things indifferent, but with those which, if not made 
right by special justificatory circumstances and the intention of the 
doer, are morally wrong. 

" ' 3. Those are to be admitted to the communion of the church 
of whom the missionary and (in Presbyterian churches) his session 
have satisfactory evidence that thej^ are in fellowship with Christ. 

" '4. The evidence, in one view of it, of fellowship with Christ, is 
a manifested desire and aim to be conformed, in all things, to the 
spirit and requirements of the word of God. 

" ' 5. Such desire and aim are to be looked for in reference to 
slavery, slaveholding, and dealing with slaves, as in regard to other 
matters ; not less, not more. 

" '6. The missionary must, under a solemn sense of responsibility 
to Christ, act on his own judgment of that evidence when obtained, 
and on the manner of obtaining it. He is at liberty to pursue that 
course which he may deem most discreet in eliciting views and feel- 
ings as to slav^ery, as with respect to other things, right views 
and feelings concerning which he seeks as evidence of Christian 
character. 

" ' 7. The missionary is responsible, not for correct views and 
action on the part of his session and church members, but only for 
an honest and proper endeavor to secure correctness of views and 
action under the same obligations and limitations on this subject as 
on others. He is to go only to the extent of his rights and responsi- 
bilities as a minister of Christ. 

" ' 8. The missionary, in the exercise of a wise discretion as to 
time, place, manner and amount of instruction, is decidedly to dis- 
countenance indulgence in known sin and the neglect of known 
duty, and so to instruct his hearers that they may understand all 
Christian duty. With that wisdom which is profitable to direct, he 
is to exhibit the legitimate bearing of the Gospel upon every moral 
evil, in order to its removal in the most desirable way ; and upon 
slavery, as upon other moral evils. As a missionary, he has nothing 
to do with political questions and agitations. He is to deal alone, 
and as a Christian instructor and pastor, with what is morally 
■wrong, that the people of God may separate themselves therefrom, 
and a right standard of moral action be held up before the world. 

" ' 9. While, as in war, there can be no shedding of blood M-^ith- 
out sin somewhere attached, and yet the individual soldier may not 
be guilty of it ; so, while slavery is always sinful, we cannot esteem 
every one who is legally a slaveholder a wrong-doer for sustaining 
the legal relation. When it is made unavoidable by the laws of the 
State, the obligations of guardianship, or the demands of humanity, 
it is not to be deemed an offence against the rule of Christian right. 
Yet missionaries are carefully to guard, and in the proper Avay to 
■vyarn others to guard, against unduly extending this plea of neces- 
sity or the good of the slave ; against making it a cover for the love 
and practice of slavery, or a pretence for not using efforts that are 
lawful and practicable'to extinguish this evil. 

" '10. Missionaries are to enjoin ui)on all masters and servants 
obedience to the directions specially addressed to them in the Holy 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 169 

Scriptures, and to explain and illustrate the precepts containing 
them. 

" ' 11. In the exercise of discipline in the churches, under the 
same obligations and limitations as in regard to other acts of wrong- 
doing, and which are recognized in the action of ministers with 
reference to otlier matters in evangelical churches where slavery 
does not exist, missionaries are to set their faces against all overt 
acts in relation to this subject, vvliich are manifestly unchristian and 
sinful; such as the treatment of slaves with inhumanity and op- 
pression ; keeping from them the knowledge of God's holy will ; 
disregarding the sanctity of the marriage relation ; trifling with the 
aflections of parents, and setting at nought the claims of children 
on their natural protectors ; and regarding and treating human 
beings as articles of merchandise. 

" ' 12. For various reasons, we agree in the inexpediency of our 
employing slave labor in other cases than tliose of manifest neces- 
sity ; it being understood that the objection of the Prudential Com- 
mittee to the employment of such labor is to that extent only. 

" ' 13. Agreeing thus in essential principles, missionaries associated 
in the same field sliould exercise charity towards each other, and 
have confidence in one another, in respect to differences which, from 
diversity of judgment, temperament, or other individual peculiarities, 
and from difference of circumstances in Avhich they are placed, may 
arise among them in the practical carrying out of these principles ; 
and we think that this should be done by others towards us as a 
missionary body. 

" ' Resolved, That we agree in the foregoiag as an expression of our 
views concerniug our relatioQS and duties as missionaries in regard to the 
subject treated of; and are happy to believe that, having this agreement 
with what we now understand to be the views of the Prudential Commit- 
tee, we may have their confidence, as they have ours, in the continued 
prosecution together of the great work to which the great Head of the 
church has called us among this people. 

" ' The statement thus approved was read throughout, and was 
afterwards considered in detail, each member of the mission ex- 
pressing his views upon it as fully, and keeping it under considera- 
tion as long, as he desired to do. After the assent given to it, 
article by article, on the day following it was again read, and the 
question was taken upon it as a whole, with the appended resolution, 
each of the eight members giving his vote in flivor of its adoption. 
It is perhaps proper also to mention, that no change by way of 
emendation, addition or omission of phraseology was found necessary 
to make it such as any member of the mission would be willing to 
accept. It should further be stated, that while the first article was 
under consideration, the act of the General Assembly of the Pres- 
byterian Church, adopted in 1818, was read, and its strongest ex- 
pressions duly weighed. The document thus considered and re- 
ferred to is herewith submitted as a part of this report.* 

* " The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, having taken 
into couiidcration the subject of slavery, think proper to make known 
8 



170 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

" ' So also was adduced the abundant testimony contained in the 
TJeport of the American Board adopted in 1845, as to what, in its 
riew, slavery, without qualification of place or time, and as it exists 
in the United States and among the Indians, is : such as its classifi- 
cation of slavery with war, polygamy, the castes of India, and other 
things which it speaks of as "social and moral evils;" and such 
language as the following : " The Committee do not deem it 
necessary to discuss the general subject of slavery as it exists in 
these United States, or to enlarge on the wickedness of the system, 
or on the disastrous moral and social influences which slavery exerts 
upon the less enlightened and less civilized communities where the 
missionaries of this Board are laboring : " " The unrighteousness 
of the principles on which the whole system is based, and the 
violation of the natural rights of man, the debasement, wickedness 
and misery it involves, and which are in fact Avitnessed to a greater 

their sentiments upon it to the churches and people under their care. We 
consider the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race bj' another 
as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human 
nature; as utterly inconsistent with tbe law of God, which requires us to 
love our neighbor as ourselves; and as totally irreconcilable with the 
spirit and principles of the Gospel of Christ, which enjoins that ' all 
things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
them.' Slavery creates a paradox in the moral system; it exhibits ra- 
tional, accountable and immortal beings in such circumstances as scarcely 
to leave them the power of moral action. It exhibits them as dependent 
on the will of others, whether they shall receive religious instruction; 
whether they shall know and worship the true God; whether they shall 
enjoy the ordinances of the Gospel; whether they shall perform the duties 
and cherish the endearments of husbands and wives, parents and children, 
neighbors and friends; whether they shall preserve their chastity and 
purity, or regard the dictates of justice and humanity. Such are some of 
the consequences of slavery — consequences not imaginary, but which 
connect themselves with its very existence. The evils to which the slave 
is always exposed often take place in fact, and in their very worst degree 
and form; and where all of them do not take place, as we rejoice to say, in 
many instances, through the influence of the principles of humanity and 
religion on the mind of masters, they do not, still, the slave is deprived of 
his natural right, degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger 
of passing into the hands of a master who may inflict upon him all the 
hardships and injuries which inhumanity and avarice may suggest. 

"From this view of the consequences resulting from the practice into 
which Christian people have most inconsistently fallen of enslaving a por- 
tion of their brethren of mankind — for ' God hath made of one blood all 
nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth ' — it is manifestly tho 
duty of all (Christians who enjoy the light of the present day, when the in- 
consistency of slavery, both with the dictates of humanity and I'eligion, 
has been demonstrated, and is generally seen and acknowledged, to use 
their honest, earnest and unwearied endeavors to correct the errors of for- 
mer times, and as speedily as possible to etface this blot on our holy reli- 
gion, and to obtain the complete abolition of slavery throughout Christen- 
dom, and if possible throughout the world. 

" We rejoice that the Ciuuch to which we belong commenced, as early as 
any other iu this country, the good work of endeavoring to put an end to 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 171 

or less extent wherever it exists, must call forth the hearty con- 
demnation of all possessed of Ciiristian feeling and sense of riglit, 
and make its removal an object of earnest and prayerful desire to 
every friend to God and man : " " Strongly as your Committee are 
convinced of the wrongfulness and evil tendencies of slaveholding, 
and ardently as they desire its speedy and imiversal termination, 
still they cannot think that in all cases it involves individual guilt in 
such a manner that every person implicated in it can, on Scriptural 
grounds, be excluded from Christian fellowship. In the language 
of Dr. Chalmers, ' Distinction ought to be made between tlie 
character of a si/sfcm, and the character of the persons whom cir- 
cumstances have implicated therewith ; nor would it always be just, 
if all the recoil and horror wherewith the former is contemplated, 
were visited in the form of condemnation and moral indignancy 
upon the latter. Slavery we hold to be a system chargeable with 

slavery, and that in the same work many of its members have ever since 
been, and now are, among the most active, vigorous and efficient laborers. 
We do, indeed, tenderly sympathize with those portions of our Church and 
our country where the evil of slavery has been entailed upon them; where 
a great and the most virtuous part of the community abhor slavery, and 
wish its extermination as sincerely as any others — but where the number 
of slaves, their ignorance, and their vicious habits generally, render aa 
immediate and universal emancipation inconsistent alike with the safety 
and happiness of the master and the slave. AVith those wlio are thus cir- 
cumstanced, we repeat that we tenderly sympathize. At the same time, 
we earnestly exhort them to continue, and if possible to increase their ex- 
ertions to etfect a total abolition of slavery. AVe exhort them to sutler no 
greater delay to take place in this most interesting concern, than a regard 
to the public welfiire truly and indispensably demands. 

" As our country has inflicted a most grievous injury on the unhappy 
Africans, by bringing them into slavery, we cannot indeed urge that we 
should add a second injury to the first, by emancipating them in such 
manner as that tliey will be likely to destroy themselves or others. But 
we do think, that our country ought to be governed in this matter by no 
other consideration than an honest and impartial regard to the happiness 
of the injured party, uninfluenced by the expense or inconvenience which 
such a regard may involve. We, therefore, warn all who belong to our 
denomination of Christians against unduly extending this plea of necessi- 
ty; against making it a cover for the love and practice of slavery, or a 
pretence for not using efforts that are lawful and practicable to extinguish 
this evil. 

"And we, at the same time, exhort others to forbear harsh censures 
and uncharitable reflections on their brethren, who unhappily live among 
slaves whom they cannot immediatel}'^ set free ; but who, at the same time, 
arc really using all their influence, and all their endeavors, to bring them 
into a state of freedom, as soon as a door for it can be safely opened. 

" Having thus expressed our views of slavery, and of the duty indis- 
pensably incumbent on all Christians to labor for its complete extinction, 
wc proceed to recommend — and we do it with all the earnestness and 
solemnity which this momentous subject demands — a particular attention 
to the following jtoints. 

" We recommend to all our people to patronize and encourage the Society 
lately formed for colouizing in Africa, the laud of their ancestors, the free 



172 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

atrocities and evils, often the most hideous and appalling which 
have either afflicted or deformed our species ; yet we must not, 
therefore, say of every man born within its territory, who has 
gi'own up familiar with its sickening spectacles, and not only by his 
habits been inured to its transactions and sights, but who by in- 
heritance is himself the owner of slaves, that unless he make the 
resolute sacrifice, and renounce his property in slaves, he is, there- 
fore, not a Christian, and should be treated as an outcast from all 
the distinctions and privileges of Christian society.' " And the 
language (quoted approvingly) unanimously uttered by the General 
Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland : " Without being pre- 
pared to adopt the principle that, in the circumstances in which they 
are placed, the churches in America ought to consider slaveholding 
l^er se an insuperable barrier in the way of enjoying Christian 
privileges, or an otFence to be visited with excommunication, all 

people of color in our country. We hope that much good may result from 
the plans and efforts of this Society. And while we exceedingly rejoice to 
have witnessed its origin and organization among the holders of slaves, as 
giving an unequivocal pledge of their desires to deliver themselves and 
their country from the calamity of slavery, we hope that those portions 
of the American Union, whose inhabitants are by a gracious Providence 
more favorably circumstanced, will cordially, and liberally, and earnestly 
cooperate with their brethren in bringing about the great end contem- 
plated. 

" We recommend to all the members of our religious denomination, not 
only to permit, but to facilitate and encourage the instruction of their 
slaves in the principles and duties of the Christian religion ; by granting 
them liberty to attend on the preaching of the Gospel, when they have 
opportunity; by favoring the instruction of them in the Sabbath school, 
wherever those schools can be formed; and by giving them all other proper 
advantages for acquiring a knowledge of their duty both to God and to man. 
W^e ai-e perfectly satisfied that it is incumbent on all Christians to compau- 
nicate religious instruction to those who are under their authority; so that 
the doing of this in the case before us, so far from operating, as some have 
apprehended that it might, as an incitement to insubordination and insur- 
rection, would, on the contrary, operate as the most powerful means for 
the prevention of those evils. 

" We enjoin it on all church sessions and presbyteries, under the care of 
this Assembly, to discountenance, and as far as possible to prevent, all 
cruelty, of whatever kind, in the treatment of slaves; especially the cru- 
elty of separating husband and wife, parents and children, and that which 
consists in selling slaves to those who will either themselves deprive these 
unhappy people of the blessings of the Gospel, or who will transport 
them to places where the Gospel is not proclaimed, or where it is forbidden 
to slaves to attend upon its institutions. And if it shall ever happen that 
a Christian professor in our communion shall sell a slave who is also in 
communion and good standing with our church, contrary to his or her will 
and inclination, it ought immediately to claim the particular attention of 
the proper church judicature ; and unless there be such peculiar circum- 
stances attending the case as can but seldom happen, it ought to be fol- 
lowed, without delay, by a suspension of the offender from all the privi- 
leges of the church, till he repent, and make all the reparation in his 
power to the injured party." — See Assembly's Digest, pp. 274-8. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 173 

must agree in holding, that wliatever rights the civil laAy of the land 
may give a master over liis slaves as chattels personal, it cannot be 
but sift of the deepest dye to regard and treat them as such ; and 
whosoever commits that sin in any sense, or deals otherwise than as 
a Christian man ought to deal with his fellow-man, whatever power 
the law may give him over them, ought to be held disqualified 
for Christian communion. Further, it must be the opinion of all, 
that it is the duty of Christians, when they find themselves un- 
happily in the predicament of slaveholders, to aim, as far as it may 
be practicable, at the manumission of their slaves ; and when that 
cannot be accomplished, to secure them in the enjoyment of the 
domestic relations, and of the means of religious training and educa- 
tion." 

" ' All this, and more, was immediately before the minds of the 
members of the mission, and with so much of the connection as to 
give the true sense, when they declared that slavery is what, in the 
documents referred to, it is described to be, and made their own the 
statement of principles above given, as those on which, as mission- 
aries, they should deal with this subject in the circumstances of 
their field of labor, and when it is to them a practical missionary 
question. 

" ' The Cherokee mission in session at Park Hill, May 9, adopted 
a resolution of concurrence with the Choctaw mission in approving 
this statement. 

" ' Excluding two churches then connected with the mission of 
the Board, and since transferred to another mission, there were in 
18i8, under the care of the American Board, in the Choctaw nation^ 
six churches, with a total membership of 536 persons, of whom 25 
were slaveholders, and 64 were slaves. The churches are now 11 
in number, containing 1094 members ; of whom, as nearly as I could 
ascertain, 20 are slaveholders, (some of them being husband and 
wife, and generally having but one or two slaves each,) and 60 are 
slaves. Six of the churches have no slaveholder in them ; two 
have but one each. Of the slaveholders in these churches, four 
have been admitted since 1848; one by transfer from another de- 
nomination, and three on profession of their faith ; none of the latter 
having been received since 1850. Statements were made to me 
respecting each of these latter cases, which show that the principles 
assented to by the mission at Good-water, as above presented, were 
practically carried out in regard to them. 

" ' In the Cherokee mission, in 1848, there were five churches, 
having 237 members, of whom 24 were slaveholders, and 23 were 
slaves. In the five churches now in that mission, there are 207 
members, of whom 17 (there is uncertainty in regard to one of this 
number) are reported as slaveholders. Three have been admitted 
since 1848 on profession of their faith, and two by letter; one of the 
latter from a church in New Hampshire. Of these, the same remark 
may be made as above in respect to simiiar cases among the Choc- 
taws. 

" ' The Choctaw mission embraces eleven families and three 
large boarding-schools. Five slaves, hired at their own desire, are 
in the employment of the missionaries. A less number are employ- 



174 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

ed in the Clierokee mission. Gladly would the missionaries dis- 
pense with these, could the necessary amount of free labor for 
domestic service be obtained. Those who employ this slave labor 
allege that it is to them a matter of painful necessity, Tiiey are 
known to resort to it unwillingly, and are not regarded as thereby 
giving their sanction to slavery. Some thus employed have been 
brought to a saving knowledge of divine truth. 

" ' The sentiments of these two missions as to the moral character 
of slavery, and the principles on which they should act with regard 
to it, are frankly and unequivocally avowed. We are bound to be- 
lieve them honest in the expression of these sentiments. It is their 
expectation that the principles thus acknowledged as their own will 
be those on which the missions will be conducted. The adjudica- 
tion of particular cases must be left to the missionary. That it be 
so left, is his right ; it is also unavoidable. The position of the mis- 
sionaries is one of great difficulty, and should be appreciated. That 
there is such a diversity of judgment among them as men of inde- 
pendent thought and ditfering mental characteristics, who agree in 
essential principles, every where evince, and that they have, through 
a use of phraseology, leading sometimes to a mutual misunderstand- 
ing of each other's views, supposed themselves to differ more widely 
than, in our conferences, they found themselves really to do, has 
been intimated. That none of them have sympathy with slavery ; 
that, on the other hand, their influence is directly and strongly ad- 
verse to its continuance, while they are doing much in mitigation 
of its evils, and to bless both master and slave, in the judgment of 
the Deputation, is beyond a doubt. By many, they are denounced 
as abolitionists. Some of their slaveholding church members have 
left their churches for another connection on this account. Others 
have disconnected themselves from a system which they have 
learned to dislike and disapprove. Strong in the confidence and 
affection of many for whose salvation they have toiled and suffered, 
by the supporters of slaverj^ in and out of the Nations, they un- 
doubtedly are looked upon with growing suspicion. Surely we 
should not be willing needlessly to embarrass them in their blessed 
work. They are worthy of the confidence and warmest sympathy 
of every friend of the red man and of the black man. God is with 
them. In the Cherokee mission, the dispensation of his grace is 
not, indeed, now as in times past ; and we have some seriousness of 
apprehension in regard to the progress of the Gospel among that 
people. Still, the divine presence is not Avanting. Among the 
Choctaws, rapid advance is making. Converts are multii)lying ; the 
fruits of the Gospel abound. Both missions need reinforcement. 
Men filled with the spirit of Christ, able to endure hardness, of prac- 
tical wisdom, which knows how to do good, and not to do only harm 
when good is meant, men of faith, energy, meekness and prayer, 
who will commend themselves to every man's conscience in the 
sight of God as his servants, are required. It gave me i)leasure to 
assure the missions of the strong desire of the Prudential Committee, 
and of my future personal endeavors, to obtain such men for them. 
No philanthropist can behold the change which has been wrought 
for these lately pagan, savage tribes, now orderly Christianized 



IxN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 175 

communities, advancing in civilization, to take ere long, if they 
go on in their coarse, their place witli tliose whose Cln-istian civili- 
zation is the grow^th of many centuries, without aJmii'ation and 
delight. But there is much yet to be done for them. "This na- 
tion," says the Choctaw mission, in a published letter, " in its im- 
provements, schools, churches, and public spirit pertaining to the 
great cause of benevolence, is but an infant." We must not expect 
too much from these churches in which we glory. Much fostering 
and training do they yet need ; and there are many souls yet to be 
enlightened and saved. Wonderful as are the renovation and ele- 
vation which the Gospel, taught in its simplicity by faithful men, 
has already given to these communities, our only hope for them, 
and for the colored race in the midst of them, is in the continued 
application of the same power through the same instrumentality. 

" 'It was the privilege of the Deputation to spend a part of three 
days, including a Sabbath, at Spencer Academy, an institution con- 
taining one hundred male pupils, excellently managed under the 
charge of the Board of the General Assembly; and to attend there 
a " big meeting," or a camp-meeting, at which several hundreds 
were present. My intercourse with brethi*en at that station, and 
the scenes in which I there mingled, — the feUowship in Christ with 
the heralds of his cross, some of them bowed with the weight of many 
years of wearing toil and affliction, and hastening to their glorious 
crown already won by honored names, no longer with them, of our 
own mission ; and the interchange of sympathy with the disciples 
of Christ, whom God has given them as the fruit of their labor, will 
ever live among the pleasantest recollections of my life. I am con- 
strained to repeat my testimony to the fraternal and Christian spirit 
with wliich the brethren met my endeavors to remove difficulties, 
strengthen the ties that bind them and the Board together, and clear 
the way for harmonious and more energetic profsecution of the great 
work in which we are associated. To a good degree this object, we 
may hope, has been gained. To Him, whose is their work and ours, 
and to whom the interests involved are infinitely more precious than 
to any of us who are connected with them, we commit the future 
keeping of this great trust. 

" ' It is due to the Choctaw mission that I communicate to the 
Committee the following resolution, presented by the Rev. Mr. 
Byington, and adopted by the mission at the close of its meeting at 
Good-water : — 

"Res^olv.ii, That tho cordial thanks of the members of the missioa be 
presented to the Rev. George W. Wood, the Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M., 
who is with us as a Deputation from the Prudential Committee, for hiij 
kind, wise and successful efforts in our mission to remove the weight of 
anxiety wliich has lonj; pressed down our hearts in connection with tho 
subject of slavery. Wo now rejoice much in this mutual and kind inter- 
change of thoughts and affections. We would pray for grace ever to walk 
in the path of life, and that ble?shigs may attend him, while with us and 
on his way homo, his family and brethren during his absence, as well as 
our mission and the American Board and all its officers. ^Vith peculiar 
sincerity of Uoarfc and gratitade to our Savior, we pre^sont to him thi^j 



176 THE AMEHICAN BOARD 

token of regard for our dear brother, and make this record of divine 
mercy toward our mission." 

" ' All which is respectfully suhmittctl, 

"'Geo. W. Wood. 
" 'Rooms of the A. B. C. F. M., New York, June 13, 1855.' 

" This commnnication of the Prudential Committee was re- 
ferred to a special committee, consisting of Dr. Beman, Dr. Thos. 
De AVitt, Dr. Hawes, Chief Justice "Williams, Doct. L. A. Smith, 
Dr. J. A. Stearns, and Hon. Linus Child, who subsequently made 
the following report: — 

" ' Your Committee have endeavored to look at this paper in its 
intrinsic character and practical bearings, and they are happy to 
state their unanimous conviction, that this visit will mark an aus})!- 
cious era in the history of these missions. The report of Mr. Wood 
is characterized by great clearness and precision ; and it presents the 
whole matters pending between the Prudential Committee and these 
missions fully before us. The conferences of the Deputation with 
the missionaries appear to have been conducted in a truly Christian 
spirit ; and the results which are set forth in the resolutions, adopted 
with much deliberation and after full discussion, are such as we may 
all hail with Christian gratitude. 

" ' It is the opinion of your Committee, that the great end which 
has been aimed at by the Prudential Committee in their correspon- 
dence with these missions, for several years past, and by the Board 
in their resolutions adopted at the last annual meeting-, has been 
substantially accomplished. While your Committee admit that there 
may be some incidental points on which an honest diversity of 
opinion may exist, yet they fully believe that this adjustment should 
be deemed satisfiictory, and tliat further agitation is not called for. 
While your Committee cannot take it upon themselves to predict 
what new developments, calling for new action hereafter, may take 
place, they are unanimously of the opinion, that the Prudential Com- 
mittee, and these laborious and efficient missionaries on this field of 
Christian effort, may go forward, on the basis adopted, in perfect 
harmony in the prosecution of their future work. 

" ' Your Committee feel that the thanks of this Board are due to 
Mr. Wood and our missionary brethren, for the manner in which 
they have met, considered and adjusted these diflacult matters 
which have long been in debate ; and at the same time, they would 
not forget that God is the source of all true light in our deepest 
darkness, and that to him all the glory is ever due.' 

" The foregoing report of the select Committee was adopted 
by the Board." 

It has been seen that the visit of Mr. Wood to the Cherokee 
and Choctaw missionaries embraced two subjects; the diffi- 
culties growing out of the action of the Choctaw Council in 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 177 

regard to boarding-schools, and the policy to be pursued by 
both missions in regard to slavery. Upon both these sub- 
jects, Mr. Wood testities, (p. 21,) " there was entire harmony 
between the Deputation and the missions." 

In regard to the first of these subjects, Mr. Wood had 
strong assurances, from one of the Trustees of the boarding- 
schools, that the objectionable law would probably remain a 
dead letter, even if not spontaneously repealed. But this 
still stronger reason is stated (p. 23) for making no formal 
objection to the law : — 

" The course of the missionaries has been in no degree changed 
by it. The teaching of slaves in these schools has never been practised 

OR COXTEMPLATKD." 

Every thing shows that the missionaries had acquiesced, 
from the beginning, in that system of caste which is one of 
the concomitants of American slavery. 

The second and more important subject, settled between 
the Deputation and the two missions at this time, respected 
" the principles, particularly in relation to slavery, on which 
the Prudential Committee, with the formally expressed ap- 
probation of the Board, aim to conduct its missions." 

The most formal and important part of this action is " a 
statement of principles drawn up at Good-water," which re- 
ceived the unanimous assent of the Choctaw and Cherokee 
missionaries, and of Mr. Wood, on the part of the Pruden- 
tial Committee. The missionaries deemed it important to 
say, that they agreed to these sentiments not as being new, 
either in theory or practice, " but such as for a long series of 
years have really been held by them." 

It must be admitted, that the claim thus made by the mis- 
sionaries, of having pursued a uniform and consistent course 
in regard to slavery, is perfectly just. They have never 
practised the disingenuousness, tergiversation and direct de- 
ceit which have characterized the action of the Prudential 
Committee and the Board on this subject. They had favored 
slaveholding from the beginning, passively, by silence respect- 
ing the practice of it in the Indian nations at large, and 
actively, by receiving those who practised it into their 
churches as Christians ; and their difficulties sprang entirely 
from the time-serving policy of the Prudential Committee, 
8* 



178 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

who were constantly trying to reconcile this course of con- 
duct, on the part of their pro-slavery missionaries, with 
assent to the anti-slavery truths urged upon them by the 
remonstrants at their Annual Meetings. Thus the formal 
allowance now given, by the adoption of the " Good-water 
Statement," to a continuance of slaveholders in the Cherokee 
and Choctaw churches, was in truth only a renewed assent, 
on the part of the Prudential Committee, to that which had 
always been alike the theory and practice of the missiona- 
ries. 

"We have now to consider the meaning and scope of the 
" Good-water Statement," which consists of thirteen proposi- 
tions, followed by a Resolution declaring the concurrence of 
the missionaries with the Prudential Committee in all therein 
contained. 

The first of these propositions seems to intend to define 
slavery ; but instead of telling us what slavery is, it adopts 
the descriptions of it, and the conclusions in regard to it, 
contained in two documents — The Act of 1818, passed by the 
General Assembly of the Freshyterian Church, and The 
Report to the American Board, written by Dr. Woods, and 
adopted at Broohlyn in 1845. 

The latter of these documents has already been quoted at 
length, and its substance shown to be as follows : 

Although much may be truly said against the system of 
slavery in general, we must not undertake to exclude every 
slaveholder from Christian fellowship ; every person who 
manifests " a saving change of heart " is entitled to church 
membership ; this saving change of heart may exist just as 
really, and be manifested just as thoroughly, among slave- 
holders as others; the missionaries are the proper persons to 
decide in what cases this change is manifested ; and, since 
they have constantly 7nade this decision in favor of slavehold- 
ers, with the allowance and consent of the Frudential Com- 
mittee, the best course for this Board is to do nothing in the 
premises, and to let these faithful and devoted missionaries 
continue to treat slaveholders as Christians — as heretofore. 

To show that this condensation of the scope and purport of 
Dr. Woods's Report (adopted by the American Board at 
Brooklyn in 1845) understates rather than overstates its 
pro-slavery character, I subjoin the following extracts from 
it, prefixing appropriate headings : — 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 179 



HOW THE PRO-SLATERT MISSIONARIES ARE AUTHORIZED STILL TO 
ADMIT SLAVEHOLDERS ! 

" How far Jwldinr/ slaves, or any tiling else involving what is mor- 
allv wrong, and which still clings to the heathen convert, affects the 
evidence that a principle of grace has been implanted in his heart, 
the missionari/, in view of his commission, the instructions of the New 
Testament, and all the circumstances of the case, as they are pres- 
ent before him, must, in connection with his Church, and under a 
solemn sense of responsibility to Christ, form his judgment, and on 
that judgment he must act. Surely, no otlier persons are in circum- 
stances so favorable as he for deciding and acting correctly. Such 
freedom and such responsibility in the missionary, your Committee 
believe, cannot be materialhj abrich/ed, without the most disastrous 
consequences to the missionary's own happiness and efficiency, and 
to the welfare of the heathen." 

HOW THE PRO-SLAVERT 3IISSIONARIES HAVE BEEN " FAITHFUL/' 
AND THEIR CONVERTS " HOPEFUL " AND "NUMEROUS " ! 

" That the missionaries among these Indians have been faithful in 
their work seems evident, not only from their own statements, but 
also from the fact that the Holy Spirit has most remarkably owned 
and blessed their labors ; the hopeful converts among the Choctaws 
being proportionally more numerous than those in any other mission 
connected with the' Board, except that at the Sandwich Islands." 

HOW THESE "faithful" MISSIONARIES AVOID PERSONALITY IN 
THE REBUKE OF SIN ! 

" In regard to the kind and amount of instruction given by the 
missionaries in relation to slavery, and the duties of masters and 
slaves, the missionaries seem substantially to agree. Mr. Byington 
says — 'We give such instructions to masters and servants as are 
contained in the Epistles, and yet not in a way to rjive the subject 
a peculiar prominence ; for then it would seem to be per- 
sonal ! ' " 

HOW these "hopeful" converts ILL-TREAT THEIR CHILDREN 
AS WELL AS THEIR SLAVES ! 

" In Christian instruction and care, both of their children and 
their slaves, the missionaries represent these Indian church mem- 
bers as being (jeneraUy, and often (jrcatbj, deficient ; but not much 

more so in respect to the latter than the former A ijreat 

propotiion of the red people, who own slaves, neglect entirely to train 
their children to habits of industry." 

"what the committee think of the admission of these 
"hopeful," slaveholding, "heathen converts" to the 

CHURCH ! 

" Strongly as your Committee are convinced of the wrongfulness 
and evil tendencies of slaveholding, and ardently as the}' desire its 
speedy and universal termination, still, they cannot think that, in all 
cases, it involves individual guilt in such a manner that every per- 
son implicated in it can, on Scriptural grounds, be excluded from 
Christian fellowship." 



180 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

WnO THE COMMITTEE THUSTK IS KESPOJ^SIBLE FOR THE COXTINU- 
AXCE OF SLAYERT AMONG THE INDIANS ! 

" Slavery was introduced among these Indians, and has been reg- 
ulated by them, in unhappy imilation of their white neighbors in 
the adjacent States. Wlietlier the Indians will be the first to abolish 
it, must depend very much on that power from above which shall 
attend the prevalence of Christian knowledge among them." 

WHAT PIOUS CONCLUSION THE COMMITTEE, THE MISSIONARIES 
AND THE BOARD UNANIMOUSLY ADOPT ! 

" The Committee believe, in agreement with the unanimous opin- 
ion of the missionaries, that any express directions from this Board 
requiring them to adopt a course of proceeding on this subject 
essentially different from that n-hirh theij have hitherto pursued, would 
be fraught with disastrous consequences to the mission, to the In- 
dians, and to the African race among them." 

Our next subject of inquiry is the meaning and scope of 
the Presbyterian General Assembly's Act of 1818, above 
quoted. 

Mr. Wood tells us that while the first article of the 
" Good-water Statement " was under consideration, this Pres- 
byterian document was read, " and its strongest expressions 
duly weighed." It is important for the reader to note that 
it contains two classes of " strongest expressions," having a 
purport and bearing directly opposite to one another; and 
that, while it admits (theoretically) many things to the dis- 
credit of slavery, it decides (practically) that members of the 
Presbyterian Church may indefinitely continue to buy, sell, 
and hold slaves. I select the following passages in proof of 
this last statement, which the reader may see in their proper 
connection, a?ite, pp. 169-172. 

HOW THE SLAVEHOLDING OF PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS AND 
CHURCH MEMBERS IS NOT A SIN, BUT ONLY AN " EVIL," AND 
NOT VOLUNTARY, BUT "ENTAILED UPON THEM " ! 

" We do, indeed, tenderly sympathize with those portions of our 
Church and our country where the evil of slavery has been entailed 
upon them." 

HOW THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY DISCOURAGE IMMEDIATE EMANCI- 
PATION ! 

" The number of slaves, their ignorance, and their vicious habits 
generally, render an immediate and universal emancipation incon- 
sistent alike with the safety and happiness of the master and the 

slave.' 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 181 

HOW THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY DISCOURAGE AGITATION AGAIXST 
SLAVEIIOLDIXG IN THE CHURCH ! 

" And we, at the same time, exhort others to forbear harsh cen- 
sures and uncharitable reflections on their brethren, who unhappily 
live among slaves whom they cannot immediately set free." 

HOW THET PROPOSE THE EXPATRIATION OF COLORED AMERICANS, 
AND TRY TO AVHITEWASH THE SLAVEHOLDING FOUNDERS OF THE 
COLONIZATION SOCIETY ! 

" We recommend to all our people to patronize and encourage the 
Society lately formed for colonizing in Africa, the land of their an- 
cestors, the free people of color in our country And we 

exceedingly rejoice to have witnessed its origin and organization 
among the holders of slaves, as giving an unequivocal pledge of their 
desires to deliver themselves and their country from the calamity of 
slavery." 

HOW THEY NOT ONLY EXPRESSLY LICENSE A CONTINUANCE OF 
SLAVEHOLDING, BUT SUGGEST THE TEACHING OF THE SLAVES 
THAT GOD AUTHORIZES THEIR ENSLAVEMENT ! 

" We recommend to all the members of our religious denomina- 
tion not only to permit, but to facilitate and encourage, the instruc- 
tion of their slaves in the principles and duties of the Christian 
religion ; by granting them liberty to attend on the preaching of the 
Gospel, ichtn theij have oppurtunittj ; by favoring the instruction of 
them in the Sabbath School, ivherever those schools can he formed ; and 
by giving them all otlier proper advantages for acquiring a knowl- 
edge of their duty both to God and man. We are perfectly satisfied 
that it is incumbent on all Christians to communicate religious in- 
struction to those who are under their authorifi/ : so that the doing of 
this, in the case before us, so far from operatinf/, as some have appre- 
hended that it might, as an incitement to insubordination and insurrection, 
would, on the contrary, operate as the most powerful means for 

THE PREVENTION OF THOSE EVILS." 

HOW THEY LICENSE SLAVERY, AND FORBID ONLY " CRUELTY " 
TO SLAVES. 

" We enjoin it on all Church Sessions and Presbyteries, under the 
care of this Assembly, to discountenance, and, as far as possible, to 
prevent, all cruelty, of whatever kind, in the treatment of slaves." 

HOW THEY LICENSE THE SALE OF SLAVES WITHOUT EVEN INQUIRY 
ON THE PART OF THE CHURCH, UNLESS THE SLAVE AS WELL AS 
THE MASTER IS A CHURCH MEMBER ! 

" And if it shall ever happen that a Christian professor in our 
comiu union shall sell a slave who is also in communion and good 
standing with our Church, contrary to his or her will and inclina- 
tion, it ought immediately to claim the particular attention of the 
proper church judicature." — See Assembly's Digest, pp. 27-1-8. 



182 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

To show that the allowance thus given by the General 
Assembly of 1818 to slaveholding in the Presbyterian 
Church was practical^ and not theoretical merelj^, I need but 
refer to the following facts. 

The Presbyterian ministers and church members were slave- 
holders, to a very great extent, at the time of the adoption 
of this document in 1818! 

They have continued to be slaveholders ever since ! 

Since that time, the Presbyterian Church has separated 
into two divisions, called Old School and New School ; and 
both these bodies retain slaveholding ministers and church 
members without objection. They now hold 77,000 slaves. 
And among these slaveholding Presbyterian church members 
is Deacon Netherland, of Tennessee, who killed his aged 
slave with a handsaw, on a charge which afterwards was 
proved a false one, and who, after this act, sat without ob- 
struction as a member of a " New School " Presbyterian 
Convention, at Richmond, A^a., in the year of our Lord 
1857, while his minister, Rev. Samuel Sawyer, for having 
tried to bring Church discipline to hear upon this murderer^ 
was driven aid of the Convention ! 

The practical bearing, therefore, of this first article of the 
" Good-water Statement," is to license a continuance of slave- 
holding in the mission churches, even while admitting the 
absolute inconsistency of the slave system with the law of 
God and the Gospel of Christ. 

The allowance of a recognition of slaveholding as justifia- 
ble, and thus of the admission of people to the church irre- 
spective of their slaveholding (which we have seen to be 
implied in the first article of the "Good-water Statement") 
is plainly expressed in its ninth article. This article not 
only declares that slaveholding may be innocent, but sponta- 
neously suggests three conditions, either of which is assumed 
to make it "■unavoidable.'''' 

The sixth article authorizes the missionary (referring, be it 
remembered, to those very Cherokee and Choctaw missiona- 
ries who have constantly admitted slaveholders to their 
churches, and expressed their determination still to do so) to 
make, in his examination of candidates for church member- 
ship, just as much, and just as little, inquiry about slavehold- 
ing as he pleases ! 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 183 

The seventh article (seemingly intended to provide against 
censure to the missionary in case one of his slaveholding 
church members should turn out a Netherland, or a Legree) 
declares that the missionary who has thus endorsed the slave- 
holding of a candidate as right, at the time of his admission, 
is not 7'esponsible for the correct views, or the correct action, 
of that person afterwards ! 

The eighth article allows the missionary to ignore and dis- 
regard the commission of any sin, however great, by one of 
his church members, if that sin be connected with a subject 
classed as ''political "/ 

The tenth article (deceitfully using the equivocal word 
" servants " when speaking of slaves) implies that the Scrip- 
tural injunction — "Servants, obey your masters"! — means 
— Slaves, obey your masters ! — thus pretending a Scriptural 
authority for American slavery ! 

The eleventh article (speaking of cases needing church 
discipline) excepts the holdiiig of slaves from such disci- 
pline, and restricts the jurisdiction of the church to certain 
special methods of slaveholding, or particular acts of a mas- 
ter against those whom the whole document recognizes as 
properly his slaves. The extent to which this provision 
operates as an *' indulgence " for the most enormous sins will 
not be appreciated, until we recognize the fact, that slavehold- 
ing churches conform to the custom of the civil community in 
which they exist, and refuse to receive the testimony of col- 
ored persons, slaves or free, against the privileged class ; so 
that in the church, just as in the civil courts, the person who 
is accused only ly slaves of cruelly bruising or maiming his 
slave-man, or of ravishing his slave-girl, is not only not tried 
for this act, but is not considered to be accused at all ! The 
declaration of the victim, even if a member of the same 
church with the master, goes for nothing ! The laws and 
customs of Church as well as State are so contrived, that the 
master maj^ secure perfect impunity for acts like these, by 
letting none but slaves witness them ! 

The testimony in regard to crimes committed by slave- 
holders against slaves is not only restricted, as above-men- 
tioned, by law in the State and by custom in the Church, but 
it is further, and yet more effectually restricted, by the habit 
of slaveholders to stand by each other in the defence of their 



184 



THE AMERICAN BOARD 



wicked " institution," and to leave unmentioned and disre- 
garded the facts that would most injure it in public estima- 
tion. I will merely allude here to an illustrative fact of 
later occurrence, which was brought out by the diligent scru- 
tiny of Prof. S. C. Bartlett, of Chicago, and which will be 
given in full in its proper place ; namely, the burning alive 
of a slave-woman, the mother of eight children, and a mem- 
ber of the mission-church at Stockbridge, in the Choctaw 
nation, under the pastoral care of Rev. Cyrus Byington, 
then a missionary of the American Board. This act was 
done at the instigation of her mistress, a member of the same 
church, and was done by Choctaw slaveholders, in the pres- 
ence of many persons who were competent to testify, had 
they been disposed. The victim asserted her innocence to 
the last. The Stockbridge church soon after held " a big 
meeting " for the communion of the Lord's supper, but no 
notice appears to have been taken of this crime, either by 
the minister or the church members ; and Eev. Mr. Bying- 
ton, who has always been praised by the Board as 2i faithful 
and devoted missionary, thought fit to make no report of this 
fact to his employers. 

The thirteenth article of the " G-ood-water Statement," and 
the Resolution which closes it, declare an agreement in " es- 
sential principles " to be thus established between the mis- 
sionaries and the Prudential Committee. Mr. Wood, in his 
subsequent remarks, (p. 26 of the Annual Report,) speaks of 
the entire and hearty unanimity with which every missionary 
assented to it, article by article, and then voted for it as a 
whole. Of course they did so, since this document is an 
authentication, by the Prudential Committee, of the previous 
policy of the missionaries, and a license for its continuance ; 
and, especially, since nothing is here intimated of the right 
and duty of the Prudential Committee to dismiss any mis- 
sionary who shall prove unfaithful in his ministerial office. 

It will be remembered that in the elaborate paper * drawn 
up by the three Secretaries, " On the Control to be exercised 

* This paper, in view of reasons suggested hy the Prudential Committee, 
was "received" from them by the Board, icithout any action on the question 
of its adoption. See p. 02 of Ann. Rep. for 18i8, and p. 71 of Ann. Rep. 
for 1849. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 185 

over Missionaries and Mission Churches," it was very briefly 
noticed — (in the section " How far the Board is responsible 
for the teaching of the Missionaries, and for the character of 
the Mission Churches," p. 78, Ann. Rep. for 1848,) — that, 
if a missionary proved persistently unfaithful, the Board 
might " dissolve his connection.'''' This paper, however, pro- 
ceeded, after such brief mention of the proper key with 
which to unlock the whole difliculty — and all the voluminous 
subsequent action of the Prudential Committee has pro- 
ceeded — without the slightest further notice of the possibil- 
ity of exercising this power of dismissal ! 

This power should have been exercised by the Prudential 
Committee as soon as the missionaries declared their deter- 
mination to persist in the admission of slaveholders to their 
churches. Prompt and consistent action in this direction 
would have prevented the necessity of offering those remon- 
strances against the Board's complicity with slavery, the 
attempts to evade which have brought so much labor, ex- 
pense and guilt upon the Board. The remedy was in the 
hands of the Prudential Committee from the beginning. But 
so far were they from choosing to use it, that their acknowl- 
edgment of its existence is restricted to one little sentence, 
while the rest of the elaborate document of which that sen- 
tence forms a part, and the whole of their subsequent pro- 
ceedings, including the " Good-water Statement," utterly 
ignore this right and duty, and try to produce the impres- 
sion that the Board is powerless to oppose the allowance of 
slaveholding practised in the mission churches ! 

In the course of Mr. Secretary Wood's report, (of which 
the " Good-water Statement," just considered, forms a part,) 
he admits that there were, at that time, (1855,) twenty slave- 
holders in the Choctaw, and seventeen in the Cherokee mis- 
sion churches, and that both missions continue the hiring of 
slaves ; he further makes the absurd assumption that slave- 
holding is, in some cases, " unavoidable," and the false 
assumption, that the Prudential Committee's allowance of 
the admission of slaveholders to the mission churches is also 
" unavoidable ; " he tries to rebut the abundant evidence of 
willing complicity with slavery on the j^art of the missiona- 
ries, by the statement that many denounce them as aboli- 



186 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

tionists,* and that " some of their slaveholding church mom- 
bers have left them for another connection on this account ; " 
and he quotes a resolution presented by Rev. Mr. Byington, 
and adopted by the Choctaw missionaries at the close of their 
meeting at Good-water, acknowledging his (Mr. Wood's) 
succes^ul efforts to set their minds at ease on the subject of 
slavery. 

The special Committee to whom Mr. Wood's report, in- 
cluding the " Good-water Statement," was referred, make the 
following significant suggestions. They thank the Secretary 
and the missionaries for the skill with which they have 
" adjusted these difficult matters " ; they believe that " the 
great end which has been aimed at by the Prudential Com- 
mittee .... has been substantially accomplished " ; " they 
fully believe that this adjustmeut should be deemed satisfac- 
tory, and that further afitation is not called for'"' ; and they 
report their unanimous opinion, that the Prudential Commit- 
tee and the missionaries may go forward in future, on the 
basis adopted, in perfect harmony. 

This report was at once adopted by the Board. What we 
have to notice in regard to it is, that since the basis for 
future operations thus agreed upon — the " Good-water State- 
ment " — manifestly provides for a continuance of slave- 
holders in the mission churches, and is declared by the mis- 
sionaries to be " not new," but perfectly in accordance with 
the policy previously pursued by them, nothing whatever had 

*This statement, no doubt a true one, has just as much and just as 
little sisjnifieance as the corresponding facts, that subscribers to the New 
York Herald, the New York Observer, Harper s Mi'jaziiie, and Harper's 
Weekly, have occasionally stopped those papers, declaring them to have 
become "abolitionized." There are always faaatical extremists among 
slaveholders, who stigmatize as abolitionism every thing which does not 
join the open praise of slavery to the practical support of it. The Chero- 
kee and Choctaw missiouaries, always taking the latter of these grounds, 
have never taken the former. But the fact that slaveholders of this worst 
sort have gone out voluntarily from the mission churches, instead of by 
excommunication, (of course, taking with them certificates of "good and 
regular standing," which would enable them to join any of the more 
actively pro-slavery churches of that region,) — and the additional fact, 
that all the slaveholders who wished to stay in the mission churches were 
allowed to do so — -stamp the charge of abolitionism against the missiona- 
ries as not only false, but absurd ; and thus show the extreme disin- 
genuousaess of Mr. Wood in offering these statements as evidence that the 
missionaries were practically opposed to slavery ! 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 187 

haen accomplished, wp to this time, (the end of the year 1855,) 
in either terminating or diminishing the complicity of the 
Board -with slavery ! 

Ill the interval from 1855 to the present time, no further 
memorials against the pro-slavery policy of the Indian mis- 
sions are 7nentioned in the Annual Reports of the Prudential 
Committee. Perhaps the remonstrating members and pa- 
trons of the Board had been so thoroughly discouraged by 
the utter defeat of their eiforts hitherto, as really to have 
discontinued those eflforts. But, at any rate, the Prudential 
Committee did not attain their expected relief from " agita- 
tion " ; for, in the very next year after Mr. Wood's " success- 
ful efforts " to set the minds of the missionaries at ease, a 
new trouble appears. In their account of the Choctaw mis- 
sion, in the Annual Report for 1856, the Prudential Commit- 
tee give us a glimpse of this trouble, and then immediately 
cover it up, as follows : — 

" CORRESPOXDENCE. 

"In the month of November, four brethren of this mission for- 
warded a letter to the Missionary House, expressiuij their wish to 
be released from their connection with the Board. Tlie Prudential 
Committee, conceiving that these brethren had misapprehended the 
true state of the relations existing between them and the Board, 
directed an answer to this letter to be prepared and forwarded hy 
the Secretary having charge of the correspondence with the Indian 
missions. A reply to this communication has recently been re- 
ceived, in which the missionaries intimated a willingness to con- 
tinue their relations to the Board, awaiting the issue of further cor- 
respondence. Under these circumstances, the Committee have 
informed them that, upon receiving their estimates, which they pro- 
pose forwarding, for the current year, the customary appropriations 
will be made. The Committee apprehend, that a publication of the 
correspondence pending at the present time would be detrimental to 
the interests of the mission; experience having shown, that, while 
negotiations are in progress between the Committee and missiona- 
ries, a public discussion of the subject tends to hinder the parties 
from coming to a harmonious result." — p. 195. 

It thus appears, that the Prudential Committee wished the 
pro-slavery Choctaw missionaries to remain, even after they 
had made an overture towards removal. The result shows 
that they did remain. And the record of the next year 
renews the praise of " faithfulness " in these men and their 
Cherokee associates, as I will proceed to show. 



188 TUE AMERICAN BOARD 

The portion of the Prudential Committee's Annual Pteport 
for 1857, relating to the Cherokee and Choctaw mist^ions, 
was referred to the following Committee : Dr. Todd, llev. 
J. J. Blaisdell, D. A. Shepard, Esq., Pev. F. B. Gray, 
Pev. N. Beach, Pev. E. J. Boyd, and F. W. Tappan, Esq. 
Their report says : — 

" Your Committee are forcibly struck by the fact, that in our 
Indian missions we haA'e to meet one obstacle, peculiarly great 
among tbis people, viz., a natural and transmitted dislike to submit 
to the great law of Providence, that man must work or perish. 
Perhaps no people to whom we have offered the Gospel find it so 
hard to sulnuit to this law as the aborigines of this country. The 
long and untiring labors of our missionaries have so far conquered, 
this difficulty, that progress in civilization is evident, and constantly 
growing more marked and distinct. The last year has been one of 
hope and joy. The people have made advancement in Christian 
character, in intelligence, civilization, and benevolence ; and it seems 
to your Committee that several tribes have nearly or quite turned 
the point betAveen civilization and annihilation. We cannot too 
highly appreciate the perseverance, the faithfulness, and the cheer- 
ful and self-denying labors of our missionaries. The Committee 
see dangers threatening; but they arc of such a natiu'C as can be 
warded off only by Divine interposition. They see no change to 
recommend, unless it be to suggest to our brethren the inquiry, 
whether there may not be more attention directed to the training up 
of natives for teachers and pastors; looking to the time — the first 
goal in all missions — when there shall be fully developed the self- 
educating power of the people." — pp. 18, 19- 

Thus, not only is the " faithfulness " praised of missiona- 
ries who continue to admit slaveholders as Christians to their 
churches, and to see, without opposing, an increase of sla- 
very in the nation they were sent to Christianize, but the 
special Committee " see no change to recommend," either in 
this policy, or in the renewed authentication of it by the 
Prudential Committee; and, although they "see dangers 
threatening," they recommend the leaving of these to some 
possible " Divine interposition," instead of demanding a 
breaking off from the sin which bred these dangers, and is 
breeding more. 

In the Annual Meeting of 1858, the portion of the 
Prudential Committee's Report relating to the missions 
among the Cherokees and Choctaws was referred to the fol- 
lowing Committee : Dr. Leonard Bacon, Hon. L. Child, 
Pev. Wm. Hogarth, Pev. James P. Fisher, Pev. Joseph 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 189 

Emerson, Rev. J. Gr. D. Stearns, and Eev. C. E. Babb, who 
made the following Report : — 

" The Committee to whom Avas referred that part of the Annual 
Report entitled ' Xorth American Indians, No. 1/ have had the 
same iinder consideration, and respectfully report : 

" That the missions included in the document which was referred 
to this Committee, are tlie mission to the Dakotas, and those to the 
partially civilized nations in the Indian territory. 

" At Hartford, in 1854, the views of the Board were clearly and 
definitely expressed in regard to certain laws and acts of the Choc- 
taw government, which were designed to restrain the liberty of the 
missionaries as teachers of God's word. All the action of the Board 
since that date, and so far as we are informed, the action of the 
Prudential Committee also, has been in conformity with the princi- 
ples then put upon recoixl. 

" Your Committee have reason to believe that the position of our 
missionaries among the Choctaws is one of much difficulty and 
peril. Among the various religious bodies in the States nearest to 
the Choctaw nation, there has been, as is well known, within the 
last twenty-five years, a lamentable defection from some of the first 
and most elementary ideas of Christian morality, insomuch that 
Christianity has been represented as the warrant for a system of 
slavery which offends the moral sense of the Christian world, and 
Christ has thereby been represented as the minister of sin. Our 
brethren among the Choctaws are in ecclesiastical relations with 
religious bodies in the adjoining States, the States from which the 
leading Choctaws are deriving tlieir notions of civilization and of 
government. In those neighboring States, and in the Choctaw 
nation, the missionaries are watched by the upholders of slavery, 
who are ready to seize upon the first opportunity of expelling them 
from the field in Avhich they have so long been laboring. By the 
enemies of the Board and of the missionaries, our brethren are 
charged with what are called, in those regions, the dangerous doc- 
trines of abolitionism. At the same time, they are charged, in other 
quarters, v.4th the guilt of silence in the presence of a great and 
hideous wickedness. 

" It seems to your Committee desirable, that the Board should be 
relieved, as early as possible, from the unceasing embarrassnients 
and perplexities connected with the missions in the Indian territory. 
Surely, the time is not far distant, when the Choctaw and Cherokee 
Indians and half-breeds will stand in precisely the same relations to 
the missionary work with the white people of the adjacent States ; 
and wlien the churches there Avill be the subjects of home mis- 
sionary more properly than of foreign missionary patronage. 

" On the whole, your Committee, with these suggestions, recom- 
mend that the Report of the Prudential Committee, as referred to 
them, be accepted and approved." — pp. 16, 17. 

This Report repeats the recommendation of a course of 
policy which Dr. Bacon had long urged upon the attention 



190 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

of the Board, and suggests also a new method of evading 
the dreaded agitation, namely, a discontinuance, not of the 
I^ro-slaverj policy of the missions, but of the missions them- 
selves. The whole document is worthy of careful considera- 
tion, showing that evasive and deceptive treatment of the 
subject of slavery which has already so often appeared in 
the proceedings of the Board and its functionaries. 

The Report refers first to the ideas of the Board express- 
ed at Hartford, in 1854, as being correct and satisfactory, 
and to the action of the Board since that time, as having been 
" in conformity with the principles then put upon record.'''' 

I have fully shown {ante, p. 159) that the statements of 
the Board in 1854 did not interfere in the least degree with 
the pro-slavery policy of the missionaries, but only took the 
part of those missionaries in opposition to certain laws, dis- 
respectful to them, just enacted by the Choctaw Council ; 
threatening a relinquishment of certain boarding-schools 
unless those laws were repealed. 

I showed, also, [ante, p. 160,) that the very next year, 
instead of fulfilling this threat, the Prudential Committee 
decided to continue the boardino;-schools, thoucrh the un- 
friendly legislation remained unchanged; and that they 
made this decision expressly on the ground that the mission- 
aries had not committed, and did not design to commit, the 
offence ascribed to them, namely, the teaching of slaves to 
read and write in the schools in question. 

Thus both implications in this paragraph of the Special 
Committee's Report are shown to be incorrect. The subse- 
quent action of the Board has not been conformed to their 
declaration respecting the Choctaw boarding-schools in 1854, 
and their clear and definite expression of views was a clear 
and definite allowance of continued complicity with slavery. 

The next paragraph in the Report, admitting the existence 
of "a lamentable defection" in regard to slavery, refers this 
defection to " religious bodies in the States nearest to the 
Choctaw nation," instead of to that nation itself, and to its 
missionaries, although those missionaries are admitted to be 
in ecclesiastical relations with the " religious bodies in the 
adjoining States" thus pointed at ; and it proceeds to quote 
two directly opposing allegations against the missionaries, as 
if the charge made by unnamed fanatical extremists in defence 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 191 

of slavery neutralized the opposite charge made (and proved) 
by abolitionists, and as if the missionaries stood, blameless, 
between these, perfect illustrators of the golden mean! 

The Report, concluding with a hope that the Board may 
be relieved, as early as possible, from " the unceasing em- 
barrassments and perplexities connected with the missions in 
the Indian Territory," suggests, as the means of accomplish- 
ing this, a relincjuishment of the missions, leaving these 
embarrassments and perplexities to be encountered by the 
Home Missionary Society. 

This Report of the Special Committee ends with the sug- 
gestion (a policy frequently urged before by Dr. Bacon) 
that, in agreeing to the Report of the Prudential Committee, 
the Board " accept and approve " rather than adopt it. The 
Board, however, voted to " accept and adopt " it ; and, the 
next year, the Prudential Committee acted upon the hint 
they had received, cut the knot which they would not take 
the trouble to untie, and discontinued the Choctaw mission, 
instead of discontinuing the allowance of slaveholding in its 
churches. 

Accordingly, at the Annual Meeting in 1859, it appeared 
that the Prudential Committee, immediately after the close 
of the previous Annual Meeting, had commenced a corre- 
spondence with the Choctaw mission preliminary to its formal 
relinquishment, which was voted in July, 1859. In the 
Annual Report, presented in the October next following, 
this correspondence with the Choctaw missionaries, and the 
final relinquishment of the mission, are set forth as follows : 

" DISCONTIXUAXCE OF THE MISSION. 

" The Committee appointed by the Board at its meeting in 
Detroit, on so much of the Annual Report as related to its opera- 
tions in the Indian Territory, thought it desirable that this body 
should be relieved, as early as possible, from the embarrassments 
and perplexities growing out of its efforts in that part of the 
world. This report having been adopted in the usual foi'm, the 
Prudential Committee addressed a letter to the Choctaw mission, 
which is as follows: — 

" ' Missionary House, Boston, Oct. 5, 1858. 
" 'To THE Choctaw^ Mission : 

" ' Dear Brethren, — The proceedings of the Board at its 
recent meeting arc ah'cady in your hands. You will liave read, 



192 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

with special attention, the report of the Committee on that part of 
the Annual Report which relates to your mission. This paper, you 
will remember, has the following sentence : " It seems to your Com- 
mittee desirable, that the Board should be relieved, as early as pos- 
sible, from the unceasing embarrassments and perplexities connected 
with the missions in the Indian Territory." The Prudential Com- 
mittee, concurring in this opinion for various reasons, respectfully 
submit for your consideration, whether, in existing circumstances, it 
be not wise and expedient that your connection with us should be 
terminated. 

" ' You will readily believe that this suggestion is made witli un- 
feigned regret. We have always felt a deep interest in your labors. 
Tor the churches which you have gathered, we entertain the most 
cordial and friendly sentiments. For yourselves, we have a strong 
fraternal feeling. For the older brethren, especially, we must ever 
cherish the tendercst affection. It is with emotions of sadness, 
therefore, that we contemplate a separation from you. 

" ' We are not able, however, to call in question the facts on which 
the Committee at Detroit founded their opinion. We find in our 
churches an increasing desire that the Board may be freed from the 
" embarrassments " above referred to. By reason thereof, it is said, 
the donations to the treasury are less than they would otherwise be, 
to the manifest injury of our churches, on the one hand, and of our 
missions, on the other. It is said, too, that the political agitations, 
which are likely to take place in coming years, must of necessity 
aggravate the evil. 

'"The report to which your attention is now called refers to diffi- 
culties which you have encountered, because of your present rela- 
tion. This consideration you will at once appreciate ; the Commit- 
tee have no occasion, therefore, to enlarge upon it. They will only 
add, that these difficulties will be likely to increase hereafter. 

" 'But there is another obstacle to our future cooperation, which 
the report, already mentioned, did not notice. The Prudential Com- 
mittee question their ability to keep your ranks adequately filled. 
When tidings came to us, a few weeks ago, that our excellent friend 
and brother, Mr. Byington, was dangerously sick, an inquiry of pain- 
ful interest arose, " Who can take his place 1 " We had no person 
ready to occupy such a post; and, in view of our past experience, 
we could hardly expect to find one. 

" ' The Committee do not propose to raise any question as to the 
agreement of your opinions with those of the Board. In any view 
of the case, which they have been able to take, the result would be 
the same. The measure is proposed as one of Christian expe- 
diency ; and it is on this ground that we present it for your consid- 
eration. 

" ' We have said that this communication is made with unfeigned 
regret. But our sorrow is lessened by the hope, that the interests 
of the people among whom you dwell will not suffer. We have 
thought it probable that you would come into connection with that 
Missionary Board under which two of your number formerly la- 
bored, — a Board which has your cordial sympathy and your entire 
confidence. Its missionaries are your "fellow Avorkers unto the 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 193 

kingdom of God," in a common field. This would fticilitate a trans- 
fer of your relation. Ecclesiastically you would make no change. 

" ' Praying that the God of missions may keep you henceforth, 
and direct all your labors, so that the comfort and joy which you 
have hitherto received therein shall be forgotten by reason of the 
more abundant coming of the Spirit of promise, I am, 

" ' Very respectfully yours, in behalf of the Prudential Com- 
mittee, 

" ' S. B. Treat, Secretanj of the A. B. C. F. M.* 

" To this communication, the following reply was received: — 

" ' Yakni Okchata, Choctaw Nation, Dec. 24, 1858. 

" ' To the Rev. S. B. Treat, Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M. : 

'"Dear Brother, — We have received your kind letter in 
behalf of the Prudential Committee, under date of Oct. 5. We 
cordially reciprocate to yourself and the Committee the fraternal 
feelings which you have expressed towards us. 

" ' You refer*^ us to the report in relation to our mission, adopted 
by the Board at Detroit, and especially to the following sentence : 
•' It seems to your Committee desirable that the Board should be 
relieved, as early as possible, from the unceasing embarrassments 
and perplexities connected with the missions in the Indian Terri- 
tory." And you add : " The Prudential Committee, concurring in 
this opinion for various reasons, respectfully submit for your consid- 
eration, Avhether, in existing circumstances, it be not wise and ex- 
pedient that your connection with us should be terminated." 

" ' You do not mention the source of these " embarrassments and 
perplexities ; " but we presume they arise from our relation to 
slavery. Such have been the peace and quiet among us on this 
subject, for the past two years, that we fondly hoped the agitation 
had ceased, not to be renewed in such a way as seriously to affect 
us. Hence the action of the Board at Detroit took us by surprise. 

" ' We have taken into prayerful consideration the question sub- 
mitted to us by the Prudential Committee. We have sought for 
light on the subject. As for ourselves, through the favor of a kind 
Providence, we see nothing in our present circumstances requiring 
a separation. Our position and course in reference to slavery are 
defined in our letter from Lenox, dated Sept. 6, 1856. These, so 
ftir as they are known to our people, meet Avith their cordial appro- 
bation ; we are, therefore, going forward without disturbance in our 
appropriate work as missionaries. Whether circumstances may not 
hereafter arise, which will render a separation necessary, we are of 
course unable to say ; but we apprehend no such difficulty from the 
Choctaw people, or from others in this region. 

" ' In regard to our course above mentioned, we would remark, 
that it is the same as has been uniformly practised by the mission 
from its commencement, more than forty j^ears ago. It had the full 
approbation of the Secretaries and the Prudential Committee for 
more than five-and-twenty years, and was finally approved, with 
perfect unanimity, by the Board at Brooklyn, in 1815. However 
•J 



194 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

great may have been our shortcomings in duty, we believe this our 
course to be right and scriptural ; and we cannot believe that it is 
"unwise and inexpedient for the Board to sustain us in what is scrip- 
tural and right. 

" ' In your letter you say, " We have thought it probable j-ou 
would come into connection with that Missionary Board under which 
two of your number formerly labored." That Board, as you have 
said, "has our cordial sympathy and entire confidence." But that 
Board is the organ of the "religious bodies in the adjoining States," 
with which we "are in ecclesiastical relations ; " and "the various 
religious bodies " in these States are charged, in the report adopted 
by the Board at Detroit, with "a lamentable defection from some of 
the first and most elementary ideas of Christian morality." Is not 
this an implied censure uptm us 1 If not, is there not an inconsist- 
ency in the above suggestion of the Prudential Committee 1 We 
have no assurance that, under these circumstances, that Board 
•would consent to a transfer of the mission to their care. 

" ' We, therefore, refer the question back to the Prudential Com- 
mittee, to be disposed of as they shall deem best. We regret that 
either the Board or the churches should sustain injury on our ac- 
count. We, however, do not think that, in our labors as mission- 
aries, we have done that which, by the Gospel standard, can be 
regarded as just cause of offence. 

" ' Be assured, that it is not a light matter with us to differ with 
the Prudential Committee and the Board, as respects the question 
which you have submitted to us. In our opinion, important prin- 
ciples are involved. 

" ' We trust and pray that the great Head of the Church may give 
■wisdom from above, that wisdom which is profitable to direct. 

" ' Most respectfully yours, in behalf of the Choctaw Mission, 

" * C. Kingsbury, Chairman. 
" ' C. C. COPELAND, Clerk.' 

*' Since the receipt of this letter, the Prudential Committee 
have bestowed the most anxious and careful attention upon the 
topic discussed in this correspondence. They have felt themselves 
greatly embarrassed by facts and considerations which they can- 
not properly submit to the public eye. There are interests in- 
volved which ought not to be endangered, if it is possible to pre- 
serve them unharmed. The history of the red man puts in a 
plea, just at this point, which is too tender and too sacred to be 
disregarded. 

" In presenting to the Board, therefore, a letter M-hich has 
closed its responsibilities in a part of the great missionary field, 
the Prudential Committee wish it to be understood that the 
whole case is not here. Knowing that such a document may be 
widely circulated, they have said only so much as the highest 
interests of the Choctaws will justify them in saying. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 195 

" ' Missionary House, Boston, July 27, 1859. 
"'To THE Choctaw Mission: 

"'Dear Brethren, — Your favor of December 24 would have 
received an earlier answer, but for tlie desire of the Committee to 
give it their most careful attention. Seldom have they felt more 
deeply their need of that wisdom wliich cometh from above, than 
during tlie deliberations which this letter has occasioned. It is their 
prayer and their hope, that the divine approval will rest upon the 
result to which they have been brought. 

" ' The suggestion which was submitted to your consideration, in 
regard to the discontinuance of the efforts of the Board among the 
Choctaws, you have referred back to the Committee, "to be dis- 
posed of as they shall deem best." In doing this, however, you 
have made the following statement : " Our position and course, in 
respect to slavery, are defined in our letter from Lenox, dated Sep- 
tember 6, 1856. These, so far as they are known to our people, 
meet with their cordial a]ii)robation ; we are, therefore, going for- 
ward without disturbance in our ajjpropriate work as missionaries." 
Had tliis extract been received in September last, it might have 
given a different direction to our corresi)ondence. 

" ' It is proper that we should review, in the fewest possible words, 
the history of a question whicli has received so much attention with- 
in tlie last few years. You remark that your policy had " the full 
ai)probation of the Secretaries and the Prudential Committee for 
more than five-and-twenty years, and was finally approved with 
perfect unanimity by the Board at Brooklyn." For much of the 
time si7ice the meeting at Brooklyn, we have supposed that there 
was no material difference between your mission and ourselves. In 
the year 1848, indeed, there seemed to be some divergency ; but in 
the following year, you declared your assent to the letter of the 
Cherokee mission, dated March 21, 1848, "as expressing, in a clear 
and condensed manner," your "main views and principles;" and 
verbal statements, subsequently made by some of your number, 
gave the Committee very great satisfaction. Whatever doubts may 
have arisen in 1854, they were effectually removed by the report 
which Mr. Wood presented to the Committee in June, 1855. The 
statement of principles which received your assent at Good-water, 
fully confirmed our previous impressions. When, therefore, we 
received from four of your number the letter of November 13, 1855, 
asking that their connection with the Board might be dissolved, we 
were slow to believe that there was any substantial disagreement, 
and immediately requested them to take the subject into consider- 
ation a second time. We could harmonize the facts which had come 
to our knowledge, only by supposing that these brethren had written 
under very serious misapprehensions. Hence, too, the Committee 
did not regard the letter of September 6, 1856, signed by six of your 
number, as final. The view which they entertained of the case Avas 
embodied in their minute of December 8, 1857, in Avhich they af- 
firmed their belief that the sentinients of the brethren who signed 
the Good-water document were in substantial accordance Avith those 
of the Committee, and that their ditiiculties were the result of mis- 



196 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

apprehensions, which could not be easily removed without a personal 
conference. 

" * In looking back from their present position, the Committee are 
constrained to admit that their action, after receiving the letter of 
September 6, 1856, was of doubtful expediency. The brethren who 
signed it declined to withdraw tbeir " letter of resignation," and, at 
the same time, embodied their main difficulties in the following 
propositions, viz. : " 1. The objections Avhich we have had to en- 
dorsing the letter of June 22, 1848, still remain. Nor can we acqui- 
esce in the suggestions and arguments of tliat letter, or declare our 
readiness to act in accoi'dance with them. 2. We were much grieved 
by the action of the Board at Hartford ; and we still deeply regret 
it. 3. The construction put upon the Good-water document, by the 
Board at Utica, makes it impracticable for us to regard that as an 
exponent of our views." 

" * The event has proved that an acceptance of the " resignation," 
just at this point, would have been the simplest and easiest solution 
of a problem which has occasioned so much perplexity. The friends 
of the Board would have felt that the Committee were justified in 
taking this step ; indeed, it would have been generally supposed 
that no other course could have been safely pursued. It would 
have been better for your work, also, so far as the Committee can 
judge, if they had assented to the proposal at once. Still, in view 
of all the circumstances, the appropriations for 1857 were made as 
usual. With the previous history of the question distinctly in mind, 
the Committee might reasonably hope that your position, sooner or 
later, would materially change ; and they were then, as they always 
have been, extremely reluctant to entertahi the idea of closing their 
labors among the Choctaws. 

" ' In 1849, as we have already remarked, your mission accepted 
the letter of the Cherokee brethren, dated March 21, 1848, "as ex- 
pressing, in a clear and condensed manner," its " main views and 
principles." In 1855, the members of that mission accepted the 
declaration of principles which received your assent at Good-water. 
By these they still abide. Your late communication, however, 
refers to the letter of September 6, 1856, as defining your position ; 
and you also say that its sentiments, so far as they are known, have 
the cordial approbation of your people, and therefore you are going 
forward without disturbance in your appropriate work. A recent 
letter from the Superintendent and Trustees of the Choctaw schools, 
in this connection, has a special significance. It requests the Com- 
mittee to "authorize some person to meet" them, and "make a 
final separation from the American Board." " We have no apology 
to make," it continues, " or argument to offer." " We only hope 
it might be effected in peace and friendship." 

" ' The result, therefore, to which we are obliged to come is briefly 
this : 1. The position which the Board, with the Committee, on 
the one hand, and you, with the Cherokee mission, on the other, 
occupied at the annual meeting in 1855, six of your number, after 
the maturest reflection, and with entire conscientiousness, we doubt 
not, liave rehnquished. 2. In doing this, they dissent from the 
opinions, not only of the Board and the Coumiittee, but, as we be- 



IN RELATION TO SLAYERY. 197 

licve, of the great majority of our constituents, We are thus taken 
back to the circumstances in wliich we found ourselves in October, 
1856, when these brethren declined to withdraw their resignation ; 
with this difference, however, that no additional delay can be ex- 
pected to issue in a favorable change. The letter of Xovember 13, 
1855, had said, " We are fully convinced that we cai not go with the 
Conmiittee and the Board as to the manner in which, as ministers 
of the Gospel and missionaries, we are to deal with slavery ; " and 
it had also said, " We have no wish to give the Committee and the 
Board further trouble on the subject ; and as there is no prospect 
that our views can be brought to harmonize, we must request that 
our relation to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions may be dissolved, in a way that will do the least harm to 
the Board and our mission." The Committee find themselves 
compelled at length to act in substantial accordance with the desire 
which was then expressed. It has been our cherished and earnest 
hope, as the long delay will have shown, to escape the necessity of 
this result. Now, however, we are persuaded that the greatest 
efficiency of the Board, as also the highest success of your efforts, 
require that a connection which awakens so many pleasant remi- 
niscences, should in its present form come to a close. A wide-spread 
dissatisfaction has arisen among the churches, which, as the case 
now stands, is almost certain to increase. Aside from the injury 
that will accrue to the spiritual interests of our constituency from a 
prolonged agitation, the income of the Board must inevitably suffer; 
while the claims of nearly all the great missionary fields are so 
urgent, that any diminution of our receipts would prove a serious 
calamity. On the other hand, continued discussion can hardly 
fail, as it seems to the Committee, to embarrass your labors. 

" ' We do not forget what you say in regard to the peace and quiet 
which have prevailed among your people for the last two years. 
The fact is easily explained. The Board has been free from agita- 
tion during this period, and so you have felt no disturbing force. 
But if your relation to the Board continues on its present footing, 
neither you nor we can rely on this exemption hereafter. The let- 
ter from the Superintendent and Trustees of the Choctaw schools, 
already referred to, shows us what we had reason to expect. 

" * The inquiry may possibly occur to you, " Why did the Com- 
mittee send us the letter of October 5, 1858 ? " The answer is to be 
found in the peculiarities of the case. They said in that letter, you 
Avill remember, that they did not raise any question as to the agree- 
ment of your opinions with those of the Board. They could not 
assume that you accepted the Good- water statement ; nor, on the 
other hand, could they assume your final rejection of it. Ilenco 
they pursued a line of argument, suggested by the action of the 
Board at Detroit, which rendei'ed any discussion of this topic unne- 
cessary. 

" ' AH that Avas said in that letter to express our sorrow in view 
of the contemplated change, and our affection for you and your peo- 
ple, we would repeat with additional emphasis. The thought that 
this letter brings your mission to a close is exceedingly painful ! 
There is no other course, however, which we can properly pursue. 



198 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

It is the recordoci judgment of the Board that it should he relieved, 
as early as possible, from the ditRculties which have grown out of 
its operations in the Indian Territory. In this opinion, for the 
reasons already set forth, tlie Committee are obliged to concur. 

" ' It only remains that I apprise you of the formal action of the 
Committee, on the 2Gth of July ; which is as follows : — 

" ' Resolved, 1. That in view of the embarrassments connected with the 
missionary work among the Choctaws, which atfect injuriously, as well the 
labors of the brethren in that field, as the relations sustained by the Board 
to its friends and patrons, it is incumbent on the Prudential Committee to 
discontinue the Choctaw mission; and the same is hereby discontinued. 

" ' Resolved, 2. That the members of this mission be informed that the 
preceding resolution does not at once terminate their personal relations to 
the Board; that they are, nevertheless, at liberty to make such arrange- 
ments for the future as they shall severally judge proper, and that the 
Committee fully recognize their claim to such pecuniary aid, whenever 
they shall retire from their connection with the Board, as, in accordance 
with its rules and usages, it is able to afford. 

" 'I am also authorized to say, (1) that the Committee propose to 
give you, as a retiring allowance, in whole or in part, the property 
now in your possession and occupancy, (except so much as niay be 
in the boarding-schools) ; and {'!) that they regard Messrs. Kings- 
bury and Byington, in consideration of their advanced age and long- 
continued service, as having special claims upon the Board ; and, 
therefore, unless they shall elect to become united with some other 
missionary organization, these brethren will be at liberty to look to 
the Board for such annual assistance as shall be needful for their 
comfort and support, during the residue of their lives. 

" ' I remain, Dear Brethren, very respectfully and affectionately 
yours, in behalf of the Prudential Committee, 

" ' S. B. Treat, Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M.' 

" It gives the Committee great pleasure, in closing this report, 
to believe that a work has been accomplished among the Choc- 
taws of high and permanent value. Whatever may be said of 
Indian missions, in the general, this is no failure. The efforts of 
the Board have demonstrated, beyond all controversy, that the 
red man, in favorable circumstances, may attain to all the bless- 
ings of a Christian civilization. For the honor of our aboriginal 
tribes, and, still more, for the honor of the Gospel of Christ, this 
truth should live for ever." — pp. 140- 146. 

The following particulars in the correspondence and action, 
detailed above, are worthy of special notice. 

The real reasons alleged for the discontinuance of the Choc- 
taw mission, in Mr. Treat's first letter, in behalf of the Pru- 
dential Committee, (Oct. 5th,) are these two, which, it is inti- 
mated, are likely to increase, instead of diminishing, in the 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 199 

future : — 1. IMore and more objection, among the churches, to 
the position of the Board ; and, as a consequence of this — 2. 
Less receipts than would otherwise be paid into the treasury. 

Not only are these stated as the reasons of the proposed 
arrangement, but the Prudential Committee expressly de- 
clare that it is not made on account of any difference of 
opinion between themselves and the missionaries ! 

The reply of the missionaries corroborates this statement, 
that no contumacy on their part has produced the discontinu- 
ance of the mission. They are surprised at such a move- 
ment ! They had fondly hoped that the agitation had ceased! 
They see nothing in the present, and apprehend nothing in 
the future, to require a separation ! Moreover, they find, in 
the suggestion volunteered by the Prudential Committee as 
to their future course, something that implies unreasonable 
censure upon them ; and they ask, with great justice, what 
the Board mean by saying that the missionaries, after this 
separation, will probably come into connection with a mis- 
sionary Board, the organ of various " religious bodies in the 
adjoining States," which bodies are charged (in the Report 
adopted by the Board in 1858, at Detroit) with "a lamenta- 
hie defection from some of the first and most elementary 
ideas of Christian morality." 

The missionaries, then, maintaining the perfect rectitude of 
their position, ^^ refer the question back to the Prudential 
Committee." 

The reply of the Prudential Committee to this letter 
(dated July 27th, 1859) is one of the most disingenuous 
towards the missionaries, and deceptive towards the public, 
that even they have ever written. I am aware that this is a 
very strong expression. 

No wonder the Prudential Committee felt themselves 
" greatly embarrassed " in the composition of this reply, in 
which the missionaries were to be treated with double injus- 
tice, for the sake of avoiding the confession of inconsistency 
and manifold guilt in their employers ! 

They pass by, entirely without remark, the inquiry of the 
missionaries why it is assumed that they will connect them- 
selves with a Board [the Presbyterian] which has shown " a 
lamentable defection from some of the first and most element- 
ary ideas of Christian morality " — probably considering that, 
upon that subject, ' least said is soonest mended." 



200 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

To entangle the matter sufficiently to make out an appear- 
ance of justification for themselves, the Prudential Ccnimit- 
tee propose to " review the history " of the correspondence 
between themselves and the missionaries. 

In the course of this review, they introduce a prrtion of 
a letter which they had never published before, written by 
six of the Choctaw missionaries, Sept. Gth, 1856, and con- 
taining the following statement: — "The construction put 
upon the Good-water document, by the Board at Utica, 
makes it impracticable for us to regard that as an exponent 
of our views." 

The Prudential Committee present this old statement as 
the sufficient ground of their present action, saying — 

" The result, iherefore, to wLich we are oWiged to come, is briefly 
this : 1. The position which the Board, with tlie Committee, on the 
one hand, and you, with the Cherokee mission, on the other, occu- 
pied at the annual meeting in 1855, six of your number, after the 
maturest reflection, and with entire conscientiousness, we doubt not, 
have relinquished. 2. In doing this, they dissent from the opinions, 
not only of the Board and the Committee, but, as we believe, of the 
great majority of our constituents. We are thus taken back to the 
circumstances in which we found ourselves in October, 1856, when 
these brethren declined to withdraw their resignation ; with this 
diflference, however, that no additional delay can be expected to 
issue in a favorable change." — p. 144. 

I have italicised the word " therefore." The use of this 
word by the Prudential Committee, and their presentation of 
the letter of the Choctaw missionaries of Sept. Gth, 1856, as 
furnishing the ground of their present action, are shown to 
be dishonest by the following facts. 

In their Annual Report for 1856, presented at the end of 
October, the Prudential Committee not only did not quote 
this passage, or the letter of Sept. 6th containing it, but 
they represented the purport of this letter to be, that " the 
missionaries intimated a williiKjness to continue their rela- 
tions to the Board, awaiting the issue of further correspond- 
ence." And the purport of this further correspondence is 
immediately stated, thus : — " Under these circumstances, the 
Committee have informed them that, upon "receiving their 
estimates, which they propose forwarding, the customary 
appropriations will be made." — p. 195. 

That the appropriations were forwarded, and that the diffi- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 201 

culty was considered to be thoroughly overcome, is shown by 
the fact that the missionaries continued at their post, and 
also by the Annual Report of the succeeding year (1857) ; 
in which the Prudential Committee make no mention of any 
further trouble, and the special committee, who had in charge 
the matters relating to the Choctaw mission, say — "We 
cannot too highly appreciate the perseverance, the faithful- 
ness, and the cheerful and self-denying labors of our mission- 
aries." — p. 18. 

Since, moreover, in the very letter from the Choctaw mis- 
sion, (Dec. 24th, 1858,) which is followed by the reply now 
under consideration, (July 27th, 1859,) the missionaries ex- 
press their surprise at the proposed action of the Board, 
declare the absence of all dissent and objection on their part, 
and refer the question back to the Prudential Committee, to 
be decided at their pleasure, the bringing up of those old 
questions as sufficient ground for separation, seems a viola- 
tion of honor and courtesy, not less than of justice and truth, 
on the part of the Prudential Committee. 

After this attempt to represent a discordance of views 
between themselves and the missionaries as the principal 
reason for a discontinuance of the Choctaw mission, the Pru- 
dential Committee proceed to mention other reasons, which 
we may safely consider the actual ones. These are, a dissat- 
isfaction among the churches, already widely spread, and 
almost certain to increase ; the prospect that prolonged agita- 
tion, disclosing more and more the real position of the Board, 
would inevitably diminish the contributions of those churches; 
and the equally certain prospect, that a continued discussion, 
showing more and more the complicity of the missionaries 
with slavery, would embarrass their labors. 

These were, no doubt, real difficulties in the way of the 
Prudential Committee. The Anti-Slavery movement, how- 
ever much discouraged by the clergy, was from year to year 
taking hold of increased numbers in the churches ; more and 
more people were coming to see that a religion which cher- 
ished slavery was not the religion of Christ; those who, 
from this point of view, scrutinized the conduct of the mis- 
sionaries, could not fail to see that, in their administration, 
Christ was not only betrayed anew, and crucified afresh, but 
made the minister of sin ; and those who scrutinized the 



202 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

policy of the Prudential Committee, marking tlie discrepancy 
between their own words, spoken at different times and to 
different parties — between their language against slavery 
and their action in allowance of it — and between their gen- 
eral policy on this subject and the dictates of truth and 
righteousness — could hardly fail to lose confidence in the 
men, and thus in their administration of other branches of 
the great work entrusted to them. 

The Prudential Committee, of course unwilling to expose 
themselves to another letter so damaging to their cause as 
Mr. Kingsbury's, (a Damascus blade in keenness as well as 
in polish,) hurried the matter to a conclusion, and, without 
further preliminary correspondence, voted the discontinuance 
of the Choctaw mission. 

In the Annual Report for 1859, immediately after the 
letter communicating this vote to the missionaries, the Pru- 
dential Committee made a final statement, which they intend 
shall sum up the whole matter, and for ever relieve them 
from the " embarrassments and perplexities " which for so 
many years had hung around the Choctaw mission. Here 
are their words : — 

"It gives the Committee pleasure, in closing this report, to be- 
lieve that a work has been accomplished among the ChoctaAvs of 
high and permanent value. Whatever may be said of Indian mis- 
sions, in the general, this is no failure." 

I wish particular attention to be paid to this declaration, 
in connection with some evidence next to be given, respecting 
the character and action of one of the Choctaw churches in 
that year ; evidence not found in the Annual Keport. 

In The Independe/it of Dec. 6th, 1860, appeared the fol- 
lowing editorial notice : — 

" A HORRID REVELATION. 

" No one can read without horror the shocking disclosures brought 
out through the correspondence of Prof. Bartlett, of Chicago, which 
appears in another column. That a slave-woman was burned alive 
in the Choctaw Nation in January, 1859, appears to be established by 
the letters of Secretaries Treat and Lowrie. It is evident that 
neither the Prudential Committee of the American Board, nor the 
Assembly's Board of Missions, had any knowledge of the transac- 
tion at a time when they could have taken responsible action with 
regard to it. But there is grave reason to apprehend, that Mr. By- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 203 

ington knew the whole transaction at or about the time of its occur- 
rence ; that members of his church were in some way implicated in 
it; and tlmt lie and other mii-sionaries have designedly withheld the 
facts from the Boards to which they are or were resj)onsible. This 
aspect of the affair is serious and painful. 

" The public will ask with astonishment, has such a crime been 
connived at, or even ignored, by a Christian church, and by the 
missionary teachers of the nation 1 Has no testimony been uttered 
against it? — no inquiry been instituted? — no discipline inflicted 
upon the accomplices of the crime, if such were in the church 1 

" These questions must be answered. Mr. Byington cannot 
longer remain silent. The Assembler's Board, under whose care the 
Mission now is, cannot longer refrain from investigating the action 
of the missionaries in the premises. The case is before the public, 
and the public will not let it rest. 

" As to Mr. Byington and his church, judgiuent must be sus- 
pended until further light is gained. But the whole transaction is 
a fearful comment upon the bloody code of slavery, and the bru- 
talizing influence of the system, wherever it exists." 

The correspondence referred to, appearing in the same 
paper, is as follows : — 

" Chicago, Nov. 23, 18G0. 
" To THE Editors or The Independent : 

"Gentlemen : — It is the right of the Christian public to know 
the extraordinary transaction which is the subject of the following 
correspondence, and to investigate it more fully. It will be seen 
that the American Board never received any intelligent hint of it, 
till the Choctaw mission had passed from their hands ; and that the 
General Assembly's Board has hitherto had no adequate report. 

" To the Secretaries of the A. B. C. F. M. : 

" Dear Brethren, — Will you permit me to make a few inquiries 
respecting an occurrence at the Choctaw mission? 

" I have been recently informed, on good and direct authority, 
that while that mission remained nominally under the care of the 
American Board, viz., on the first Sabbath in January, 1859, a slave- 
Avoman was burned alive at a public meeting in the Choctaw Nation, 
after having been previously tortured in the vain attempt to extract 
from her a confession of guilt. I am informed that she was a repu- 
table member of a mission church. If I am not mistaken, her mas- 
ter and mistress were members of the same church. I am told that, 
at the same time, the dead body of a slave man was also burned ; he 
having been put to the torture, and having committed suicide to 
escape the doom that awaited him. This transaction took place 
within ten miles of a missionary station, and it has been intimated 
to me that church members were not clear of participation in the 
crime. 

" It seems to me due to the cause of our Master that such a trans- 
action should receive from a Christian commimity that attention 



204 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

■which its remarkable character demands. And in order to elicit all 
the facts of the case, permit me respectfully to ask you the follow- 
ing questions : 

" 1. While the Choctaw mission was in connection -with the 
A. B. C. F. M., did you receive any information respecting the 
burning of slaves in the Choctaw nation i If so, can you state the 
circumstances ? What were the charges ? Did the parties plead 
guilty ? What parties took part in the burning ? Were there any 
church members who gave their assent to the burning, or were in 
any way implicated in the procedure ? What action was taken in 
the church or the mission upon the subject ? 

" 2. Had the Prudential Committee any reference to facts of this 
description, when they said, in the Annual Report for 1850, that 
they were ' embarrassed by facts and considerations ' which they 
could not ' properly submit to the public eye ' ? 

" 3. Have you, since the Choctaw mission ceased to be under the 
care of the American Board, received from any responsible party, 
personally acquainted with the affairs of the mission, any intimation 
of the transaction above referred to 1 If so, when 1 and what was 
the nature of that information 1 

" You will oblige me by giving an early reply to these questions, 
with permission to make known the answer to the public. I have 
made similar inquiries of the Assembly's Board, and of Ivev. Cyrus 
Byington, missionary to the Choctaws. 

" Yours, respectfully, Samuel C. Bartlett. 

" Chicago, Oct. 22, 18G0." 

"Mission House, Boston, Oct. 27, 1860. 
"Rev. S. C. Bartlett, Chicago, III. : 

" Dear Brother, — It devolves upon me to reply to j'our favor of 
October 22d, addressed to the Secretaries of the A. B. C. F. M., as 
I have all the information bearing upon your question which has 
been received at the Missionary House. 

"My answer to yonrjjrst inquiry is, that we received no informa- 
tion respecting the burning of slaves in the Choctaw Nation while 
the Choctaw mission was connected with the Board. I will add, 
moreover, that none of us had any suspicion that such a tragedy as 
you describe could possibly occur. 

"My answer to your second inquiry you will have anticipated. 
The statement in the Annual Report for 185y, to which you have 
alluded, had no reference Avhatever to any facts of this descrip- 
tion. 

" My answer to the third inquiry is, that in August, I860, I re- 
ceived a letter from Mr. Chamberlain, late of the Choctaw mission, 
in which he intimated that he might, at some future time, make a 
statement ' in connection with the burning of slaves on the first 
Sabbath in January, ISo'J.' This was the first intimation which I 
received from any one ' personally acquainted with the affairs of 
that mission,' that such an event had occurred. 

"I ought to say, however, that I had received letters from Mr. 
Chamberlain, (the earliest dated Dec. 7, 1859,) which were unintelli- 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 205 

gible to me at the time, but which, as I now suppose, referred to 
this transaction. From a still earlier letter, (Avritten May 2, 1859, 
after the Committee had decided to discontinue the mission, but 
before the formal resolution was passed,) I inferred that Mr. C. felt 
somewhat embarrassed in his position ; but I had no suspicion that 
his embarrassment grew out of any such matter. 
" Very respectfully yours, 

" S. B. Treat, Sec. of the A. B. C. F. M." 

"The letter of inquiry sent to the Secretary of the General As- 
sembly's Board of Missions is, for brevity's sake, omitted. It 
covered substantially the points of question Xo. 1 in the letter to 
the American Board, and contained the additional inquiry, ' Was 
the missionary, having under his care the church to which this 
woman belonged, the Commissioner from the Indian Presbytery to 
the last General Assembly ( And has he made any report of the 
transaction ? ' The letter was dated October 18th, and elicited the 
following reply : — 

" Mission House, New York, Oct. 30, 1860. 
" Rev. Samuel C. Bartlett : 

"Dear Sir, — Your letter of the 22d inst. has been received. 
The painful transaction to which you refer took place a year before 
the missionaries of the American Board were received by us, and 
of course no report in relation to it was made to us. The only 
information we have on the subject is contained in a letter from one 
of our original missionaries, dated the 12th of January last, and is 
the following : ' About a year ago, a black man killed his master 
without any provocation. The master was a worthy man, and a 
member of ^Ir. Byington's church. Afterwards, the man made con- 
fession, and accused one of the black women of having instigated 
him to do the deed. Having made this confession, and discovered 
the body of his master, he got away from those in charge of him, 
jumped into the little river, and drowned himself. Lucy, the one 
charged as the instigator of the murder, was taken by the enraged 
relatives and burned. The poor woman was also a member of Mr. 
Bj'ington's church, and protested to the last her innocence. The 
murdered man was a Mr. Haskins, a brother of Mr. George Has- 
kins, one of the first men in the Nation. His wife is a daughter of 
Col. P. P. Pitchlynn. It was a terrible affair, but the mission and 
the church here are not responsible for it.' 

" I am, yours respectfully, "Walter Lowrie." 

"It will be seen that the communication of Secretary Lowrie 
fully confirms this tale of woe, in all its essential particulars, and 
also makes known the fact that the poor victim, her deceased mas- 
ter, and surviving mistress, were all members of a church under the 
care of Kev. C. Byington, Commissioner in the last General Assem- 
bly. The concluding comment of the missionary, that ' neither the 
mission nor the church here are responsible for it,' will not satisfy 



206 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

Christian men. They have a responsibility in regard to it, which 
they do not appear to liave met. 

" Five weeks have now ehipsed since I wrote to Mr. Byington, 
respectfully asking for such information as he might be willing to 
give tlie public concerning this public transaction, the relation of 
the various parties to the church, and the course wliich the church 
have taken. As yet, no reply has been received. I would now 
earnestly call upon him to break the portentous silence which he 
has kept for two j'cars, concerning this fearful slaughter of one of 
the ' little ones ' of his tiock, and to show us that his church and 
all its members not only are clear of all complicity in the affair, but 
have discharged their whole duty in the case. 

"I would also request that Mr. J. D. Chamberlain would com- 
plete the information at which he has hinted in his letters to Secre- 
tary Treat, and tell the Christian public what he knows concerning 
this extraordinary tragedy — a Christian woman, the mother of eight 
children, 'owned' by another Christian woman, persisting in her 
innocence, though three times hung up to extort confession of guilt, 
and burned alive with the words of prayer and praise upon her 
lips ! 

" Yours, truly, S. C. Bartlett." 

It is well said by Mr. Bartlett, that both the mission and 
the church have a responsibility for this awful crime, which 
they do not appear to have met. 

On the 24th of January, 1861, seven weeks after the fore- 
going, another editorial notice appeared in The I?idepe?ide?it, 
as follows : — 

"The Burnt Slave. — "We have additional authentic evidence 
touching the burning of the slave-woman in the Choctaw nation, to 
which Kev. Mr. Bartlett, of Chicago, has called the attention of the 
public. A person who was in the Choctaw nation at the time, testi- 
fies that the woman was burnt on the first Sabbath of 1859 ; that she 
was a member of the Stockbridge church; that her mistress, who 
instigated the crime, was a member of the same church ; and that 
soon after this crime was perpetrated, a 'big meeting' of the mis- 
sion church was held for the communion, but no notice was taken 
of this horrible transaction. 

" Secretary Treat has already stated that this affair did not come 
to the knowledge of the Board till after the connection of the Choc- 
taw mission with the Board had ceased. But we believe that Rev. 
Mr. Byington is still a pensioner of the Board, — his subsistence 
being pledged to him for life. If this is so, the Prudential Com- 
mittee are fairly called upon to investigate the facts of this case, and 
if Mr. Byington was guilty of silence and inaction toward such a 
crime, he is unworthy of any countenance from the Christian com- 
munity," 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY . 207 

In the succeeding week, January 31st, another item ap- 
peared in the same paper, as follows : — 

"Ret. Mr. Byington. — We are assured tliat Rev. Mr. Bying- 
ton, of the Choctaw Mission, declined a pension from the American 
Board, as he entered at once into tlie service of another Board. 
That body, therefore, have no responsibility whatever for Mr. By- 
ington or his acts, and no censure can rest upon tliem for the liorri- 
ble affair of slave-burning, of whicli they knew nothing till after the 
mission had passed from their hands." 

This statement of The Independent, that the American 
Board " have no responsibility whatever for Mr. Byington or 
his acts," is an insult to the common sense of this commu- 
nity ! Shall " no censure " rest upon them for the horrible 
affair of slave-burning ? Let us see. 

The Prudential Committee, to whom the Board entrusted 
the management of its affairs, allowed their missionary ser- 
vants to live among the slaveholding Choctaws for more than 
forty years, pretending to preach the Gospel to them, yet not 
opposing slavery ; they allowed them to honor that infamous 
system by admitting slaveholders as the first members of 
their churches; they allowed them, when this course was 
called in question by Christians in New England, to make 
excuses for slaveholding ; to declare it not only justifiable, 
but sometimes indispensable ; to maintain, when specifications 
of gross wickedness, inherent in it, were brought up — the 
buying and selling of men and women as property, and the 
separation by such sales of husbands and wives, parents and 
children — that they would make no rule forbidding those 
things to church members ; and to accjuiesce in the w icked 
custom prevailing among those slaveholders, of preventing 
their victims from learning to read the Bible ! 

The Prudential Committee had evidence, from time to 
time, through all those forty years, that the custom of buy- 
ing and selling human beings as property, and of holding 
and using them as such, tends to the commission of frightful 
excesses of cruelty against these unfortunate victims, often 
on mere suspicion of fault, and sometimes when that suspi- 
cion is entirely groundless. They knew that fugitive slaves 
were hunted with bloodhounds; that slaves resisting even 
cruel and unreasonable punishment were killed, sometimes 
quickly, by a pistol-shot, sometimes slowly, by the scourge ; 



208 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

and that there were many well-authenticated instances of 
these poor unfortunates having been burned alive I Having 
let the practice go on which is accustomed to lead to these 
excesses of wickedness, is their advocate entitled, in the very 
act of condemning the last and worst one, to declare them 
GUILTLESS of it ? Having allowed, and argued for, their sys- 
tematic teaching of the alphabet, through a course of forty 
years, is their advocate authorized to declare, when the letter 
Z is reached, that the utterance of that letter is a horrible 
crime, and to declare, in the same breath, that the teachers 
have " no responsibility whatever " for its utterance by the 
pupils ? 

Such an allegation is not only false, but absurd. But The 
Independeyit has been accustomed to defend the Board through 
all its shameful complicity with slavery, revealed in the fore- 
going pages; and now, adhering to that policy, though it 
yields to Prof. Bartlett's request for the publication of the 
foregoing correspondence, and admits the appearance of guilt 
in a missionary who allowed one of his church members to 
burn another alive, with neither remonstrance at the time 
nor church discipline afterwards — yet it declares the Board 
to have " no responsibility whatever " for this act, and it says 
not a word about any responsibility of the Prudential Com- 
mittee ! 

It may be well now to inquire who were the pastors and 
teachers of the Stockbridge mission church at the time of the 
immolation of this " whole burnt-oifering " ; and what is the 
recent history of a church, purporting to be Christian, which 
did not think the burning alive of one of its members by 
another sufficient cause for church discipline, or inquiry, or 
any measures whatever ! 

In the Annual Report for the year of the burning, 1859, 
the Stockbridge church stands first in the list of stations of 
the Choctaw mission. The missionary force belonging to it 
is as follows : — 

" Stockbridge. — Cyrus Byington, Missionary ; Jason D. Cham- 
berlain, Steioard of the Boardinf; School; Mrs. Sophia N. Byington, 
Mrs. Elsey G. Cllaniberlain, Miss Charity A. Gaston, Miss Harriet 
A. Dada, Teachers." — p. 137. 

No remarks are made respecting this particular church, 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 



209 



except the following details, in a statistical table, of its num- 
bers and action during the previous year (p. 139) : — 

" Received on profession, 19 

" by letter, 3 

Present number, 149 

Contributions to missions, $9 

" for other objects, . . . , 6-47." 

Of the mission in general it is said, in this Report, " there 
is reason to believe that the churches, on the whole, were 
never in a better condition than they are now." — p. 139. 

No particular remarks are made respecting this Stock- 
bridge church, either for praise or censure, in the years pre- 
ceding this, even going back to the commencement of it. 
Actually, nothing is said of this station, for twenty-five years, 
of more significance than the bare statistical information that 
in 1837 it had 11 G church members, in 1842, 70, and in 
1843, the church and congregation together, "on the Sab- 
bath," numbered " 60 or 70 " only, though 69 were still 
rated as church members upon Mr. Byington's list. Per- 
haps, in like manner, in 1858, the congregation actually 
attending worship there " on the Sabbath," pious and impious 
together, proved less in number than the 149 who had " a 
name to live" on the church record. 

Before leaving the record of the shocking transaction 
above referred to, I wish to call attention to two very re- 
markable expressions in the Prudential Committee's Annual 
Report for 1859, treating of the discontinuance of the Choc- 
taw Mission, and presented to the Board eight months after 
this burning alive of one of its church members by another, 
in that mission. 

They say, p. 143 of the Ann. Rep. for 1859, quoted ante, 
p. 194, (in their remarks immediately preceding their vote 
recording the discontinuance of the Choctaw Mission,) — 
" They have felt themselves greatly emlarrassed by facts 
and considerations which they cannot properhj sjilmit to the 
public cye.^^ And again they say — "The Prudential Ccm- 
mittee wish it to be understood that the whole case is not 
here.'' What is the meaning of these expressions? What 
are these suppressed /<2cf5 ? 

In the correspondence above detailed. Prof. Bartlett has 
made reference to one of these expressions, asking Dr. Treat 



210 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

whether the suppressed " facts " in question were of this hor- 
rible class; and Dr. Treat returns, as above, a negative 
answer ; but the assertions of Dr. Treat in this country, as 
well as of Dr. Pomroy in England, respecting the relation 
of the Board to slavery, have not been such as to justify 
entire confidence in the veracity oT the Secretaries of the 
Board, when its reputation is in question. It may be that 
other discreditable fruits of slavery among the Choctaws, 
rendering immediate separation from them desirable for the 
Board, have been more effectually hushed up than the slave- 
burning in January, 1859. It may be that the " plea " for 
this suppression (intimated in the Report to be " the history 
of the red man " ! ! ) is rather the credit of the Board with 
the Northern churches. And the community can hardly feel 
well assured on this point, until they know what is " the whole 
case " ; what are the embarrassing " facts and considera- 
tions." 

Having placed the record of the slave-burning at a mission- 
station in the year of its occurrence, and having shown, as I 
think, that the Prudential Committee, however ignorant of 
this act at the time, are to be held responsible for it, because 
they allowed their missionaries, from the beginning, to pur- 
sue a policy naturally leading to it, I come next to the action 
of the Board, in the Annual Meeting of the same year, on 
the Prudential Committee's discontinuance of the Choctaw 
mission. 

Although this abrupt movement of the Prudential Com- 
mittee had been foreshadowed by Dr. Bacon's hint, in the 
previous year, of the chance of escaping by this back-door 
from their " unceasing embarrassments and perplexities " in 
the Choctaw mission, their sudden action upon this matter 
seems to have taken the Board by surprise. The special Com- 
mittee to whom it was referred made two varying reports, 
and the Board held an animated debate upon them for more 
than four hours. The statement in the Annual Beport re- 
specting the whole matter is as follows : — 

" THE CHOCTAW MISSIOX. 

"The report of the Committee on the missions among the 
Choctaws and Cherokees was introduced by a verbal statement 
of the chairman, to the effect that their attention had been spe- 
cially directed to the Choctaw mission, and they had noticed 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 211 

nothing calling for remark In the Report respecting that among 
the Cherokees. The report was as follows: — 

" ' The Committee to whom the "Report on the Choctaw mission 
was referred would respectfully sul)mit the following statement and 
resolutions, as expressive of their views : 

" ' This mission, as it was one of the earliest, so it has been one 
of the most cherished under the care of this Board. For more than 
forty years it has been in existence, occupying, during all this pe- 
riod, a large place in the interest and affection of the churches here 
represented. It has passed through trials, but in spite of them, it 
has flourished and prospered. 

"'Repeated revivals of religion, the ingathering of many, from 
time to time, into the church, the holy lives of those brought out of 
pagan darkness into the light of the Gospel, have been tiie divine 
attestation to the faithfulness of the Apostolic men who, for so many 
years, have labored in this field. The wild Indian reclaimed from 
barbarism, and the savage brought into a state of civilization, has 
refuted the oft-repeated assertion, that in his case, to civilize was to 
destroy. 

" ' Were these churches fully prepared to sustain the institutions 
of religion without further aid, their separation from this Board 
would be the natural and necessary result of their growth — a result 
full of joy to those who had so long contributed to secure it. But 
when such a separation is contemplated before this time has arriverl ; 
when it is proposed to discontinue the mission, and dismiss the la- 
borers from the field, solely on tlie ground of a difference of opinion 
between the missionaries and this Board in respect to the manner 
of preaching the Gospel, or the application of its principles to the 
evil of slavery, then it is fit that such a step should be taken only 
after a thorough investigation of the real difficulties of the case has 
satisfied the members of this Board of its necessity. 

" ' It may be, that the best interests of the mission and the use- 
fulness of the Board will be greatly promoted by the separation. 
But in this case, it should be brought about deliberately, and after 
tlie whole subject has been fairly presented to the cliurches. Your 
Committee feel, that for this Board to confirm, at this meeting, the 
action of the Prudential Committee in discontinuing this mission, 
would be regarded by many of the churches contributing largely to 
its resources as at least premature. 

" ' In order, therefore, to secure deliberate and intelligent action 
on this question, your Committee recommend : 

" ' That this whole subject be committed to a committee of , 

(members of this Board,) with instructions to examine it; and if in 
their opinion it is expedient to discontinue the Choctaw mission, to 
consider what arrangements are necessary to render such discon- 
tiniiance least perilous to the interests of religion in that nation, and 
just to the members of the mission, and report thereon at the next 
meeting of the Board. 

" ' Your Committee also recommend, that, for this year, the Pru- 
dential Committee should grant the mission the usual supplies.' 



212 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

" Hon. Linus Cliikl, from the same Committee, offered tne fol- 
lowing resolutions as a substitute for the report of the Com- 
mittee : — 

" ' 1. Resolved, That, in consideration of the facts involved in the 
intercourse between the Prudential Committee and the missionaries 
in the Choctaw mission, since the year 1847, the happiness of the 
missionaries, and tlieir prosperity in their work, will be promoted 
by their separation from this Board, while, at tlie same time, the 
termination of their connection will greatly relieve the Board of the 
serious and painful embarrassments to which it has been subjected. 

"■ ' 2. Resolved, That this Board entertain feelings of the highest re- 
spect, confidence and affection for the devoted men connected with 
this mission, and cordially and gratefully appreciate their self-deny- 
ing and taithful labors, which have been signally blessed of God to 
the temporal and spiritual welfare of the Choctaw nation, and most 
earnestly desire that larger fruits of these years of toil may cheer 
them in the future prosecution of their benevolent and Christian 
enterprise. 

" ' 3. Resolved, That while we cannot withhold an expression of 
deep regret at the withdrawal of this Board from a field which has 
been cultivated for so long a period, with so much prayer and Chris- 
tian zeal on the part of the churches, and with so many severe hard- 
ships and struggles on the part of the missionaries, we are con- 
strained to recommend, that the action of the Prudential Committee, 
terminating the connection of the (Choctaw mission with the Board, 
be concurred in, with this distinct modification, that the usual appro- 
priations for a year be made, and placed at the disposal of the mis- 
sionaries, in order that, with comfort to themselves, they may go on 
with their work until they shall have fully matured their plans for 
the future.' 

" A prolonged discussion followed the reading of these papers. 
The question being on the adoption of the resolutions presented 
by Mr. Child, as a substitute for the report of the Conmiittee, Dr. 
Cheever moved the following, as an amendment to these resolu- 
tions, and to be added to the report of the Committee : — 

"'Your Committee add, that in the opinion of this Board, the 
holding of slaves be pronounced [is?] an immorality, inconsistent 
with membership in any Christian church ; and that it ought to be 
required, that these missionary churches should immediately put 
away from themselves this sin, and should cease to sanction it even 
in appearance.' 

" This amendment was, by unanimous vote, laid upon the table. 

" The Board also voted, that both the report of the Committee 
and tlie resolutions offered by INlr. Child be laid upon the table. 

" Dr. Stearns then moved, that the whole subject be referred to 
a committee of nine, to report at the next annual meeting of the 
Board. Upon a motion to lay this motion of Dr. Stearns on the 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 213 

table, the yeas and nays being called for, were taken, -vvith tbc 
following result : — 

"'Yeas — Benjamin Tappan, Willard Child, Erastus Fairbanks, 
Joseph Steele, Heman Humphrey, Henry Hill, Rufus Anderson, 
Charles Stoddard, Ebenezer Alden, S. L. Pomroy, S. B. Treat, H. 
B. Hooker, Linus Cliild, S. M. Worcester, A. W. Porter, A. C. 
Thompson, W. T. Eustis, John Aiken, Seth Sweetscr, Jas. M. Gor- 
don, Amos Blanchard, Joel Hawes, Thomas W, Williams, Henry 
White, S. W. S. Dutton, George Kellogg, Charles Mills, William 
Patton, C. T. Hulburd, Simeon Benjamin, Geo. W. Wood, William 
Strong, L. H. Delano — 33. 

'"Nays — John W. Chickering, Sylvester Holmes, Nehemiah 
Adams, Leonard Bacon, David L. Ogden, William Adams, Samuel 
W. Fislier, Oliver E. Wood, George B. Cheever, Thornton A. Mills, 
David H. Riddle, Jonathan F. Stearns, Lyndon A. Smith, William 
R. DeWitt, Ambrose White, William Jessup, Samuel H. Perkins, 
Joel Parker, William A. Buckingham, Thomas Brainerd — 20. 

" Hon. Linus Child then moved, that the Report of the Pruden- 
tial Committee respecting the Choctaw mission be adopted, and 
published with other portions of the Annual Report. AVliile this 
motion was pending, Rev. H. T. Cheever offered the following as 
an amendment : — 

" 'Resolved, That the Prudential Committee be instructed to carry 
on the Choctaw mission, by the appointment and substitution of 
other missionaries than the present incumbents, who will carry on 
the mission upon the principles which the Boai'd shall at any time 
adopt for the government of its missionaries.' 

" This was laid upon the table, and the motion of Mr. Child 
was adopted ; the consideration of the subject having occupied 
the attention of the Board for more than four hours." 

Of the various matters contained in this extract from the 
proceedings of the Annual Meeting of 1859, the first in 
order is the two reports of the Special Committee upon the 
discontinuance of the Choctaw mission by the Prudential 
Committee. 

The majority report finds no sufiicient reason for this sum- 
mary procedure, and recommends investigation of the grounds 
of it. 

The minority report recommends concurrence in the action 
of the Prudential Committee, thinking this the most prudent 
course for all parties concerned. 

" A prolonged discussion " followed, showing a nearly 
equal division in the Board between those who thought it 



214 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

most important to viDdicate the policy of the missionaries, 
and those who thought it most important to relieve the Pru- 
dential Committee from " embarrassments and perplexi- 
ties." 

Both these parties, however, joined in an " unanimous vote" 
to lay upon the table the amendment offered by Dr. Cheever, 
declaring the holding of slaves an immorality, inconsisterit 
with membership in any Christian church, and requiring 
that the Choctaw mission churches should cleanse themselves 
from this sin. 

The Board, after hours of discussion, found themselves 
unable to agree upon either of the reports, and both were 
laid upon the table. 

Dr. Stearns then made a motion proposing substantially 
the action recommended in the majority report, but omitting 
the reasons there urged for it, and avoiding all implication 
against the Prudential Committee. A decided majority 
voted to lay this motion also on the table. 

The writer of the minority report then made a new mo- 
tion, embodying the essential feature of that report, (concur- 
rence in the action of the Prudential Committee,) without 
its form, and this was declared adopted, without a count. 

While this was pending, however, a resolution offered by 
Rev. Henry T. Cheever — recommending that the Choctaw 
missionaries be changed, instead of the mission discontinued — 
was promptly laid on the table. 

The prolonged debates and the emphatic votes of this 
meetinor havinor shown the Board determined not to interfere 
with the complicity maintained by their Prudential Commit- 
tee and their missionaries with slavery. Dr. Cheever next 
tried this body with a less stringent test of principle and 
duty. 

There had been, during that year and the year previous, 
many indications of a purpose, among the most Southern 
States of the American Union, to revive the foreign slave- 
trade in fact, and to seek to legitimate it by legislative and 
Congressional action, for the purpose of effecting a very 
great enlargement of its operations. 

However careful the Prudential Committee had been to 
say nothing against the internal slave-trade, as practised 
around and within the territory occupied by their Indian 



IN RELATION TO SLATERY. 215 

missions, they bad frequently and strongly declared the pre- 
judicial influence of the foreign slave-trade upon their Afri- 
can missions. Of the influence of slavery itself, in Africa^ 
they speak freely, in this very Annual Report, (1859,) as 
follows. Speaking of the people on and near the Gaboon 
river, on the West coast of Africa, they say — 

"Social Conditiox. — Domestic slavery is extensive and in- 
creasing. Slaves outnumber the freemen. Polygamy is universal, 
and in its loosest form. Marriage can hardly be said to exist. 
Much of the property is in the form of slaves and wives. The 
children of slaves, however, are not often sold, and Mr. Walker 
thinks the French slave trade cannot long continue. The social 
disorganization is so complete, that all the young men fall early into 
the licentious habits of their countrymen ; and it is almost impossible 
to obtain and educate virtuous females. It is found next to impos- 
sible to furnish wives for native lielpers." — p. 40. 

Of the direct injury wrought by the slave-trade in Africa 
upon their missionary work, the Prudential Committee say, 
in their Annual Report for 1858 : — 

" The mission has found greater difficulties than was expected 
above the navigable waters of the Gaboon. The slave-trade has 
demoralized the social life of the country. Tribe lies behind tribe, 
each with a diti'erent language, and each seeking to be the exclusive 
factors of all the trade that passes to and from the coast." — p. 31. 

Of the fact that this desolating trade continues to exist, 
even where it is claimed to have been suppressed by treaty, 
they say, in their Annual Report for 1855 : — 

" The slave-trade is still carried on between that place [Sanga- 
tanga] and St. Thomas ; although the king showed our brethren a 
very rigid treaty, which he and his chiefs had entered into with the 
British government, for the entire suppression of the traffic in his 
dominions." — p. 47. 

Since the Prudential Committee had already spoken thus 
strongly and repeatedly on the pernicious influence of the 
foreign slave-trade, in its relation to Africa, it was not un- 
reasonable in Dr. Cheever to ask such aid as might be given 
by a protest of the Board against a reestablishment of that 
atrocious trafiic by this country, involving, as it necessarily 
would, a great increase of the evil complained of in Africa. 
The Board, however, evaded compliance with this request, 
by their usual method of indirection, and the Prudential 



216 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

Committee, taking care not to quote Dr. Cheever's memo- 
rial in their Annual Report, thus refer to the presentation 
and final disposition of it : — 

" THE SLAVE TRADE. 

" Dr. Cheever presented, for adoption by the Board, a memo- 
rial addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States, on the subject of the African slave-trade. After 
discussion, this memorial was referred to the Business Committee, 
who subsequently reported, recommending the adoption of the 
following preamble and resolution, which were adopted : — 

" ' While the Board regard with sentiments of unqualified con- 
demnation the African slave-trade, and cannot but feel the liveliest 
regret and alarm at the disijosition manifested in this and other 
countries to revive it in one form or another, especially in view of 
the fact that it is interfering, and is likely to interfere, in the most 
serious manner, with the proper missionary work of the Board, yet, 
inasmuch as tliere is not sufficient time, at this advanced stage of 
the meeting, properly to deliberate and determine upon the course 
proper to be pursued in so grave a matter : 

"■ ' Resolved, That the whole subject, with the memorial that brings 
it before the Board, be referred to the Prudential Committee, to 
take such action as in their judgment its relations to their work, as 
a Board of Missions, shall seem to demand.' " 

Thus, at the very time when urgent and speedy action was 
demanded by the very nature of the case, this important sub- 
ject was buried for another year. 

In the list, given in the Annual Report, (1859,) of per- 
sons present at this meeting, is the name of Rev. Justin 
Perkins, D.D., for many years a missionary of the Board 
among the Nestorians. As Dr. Perkins had formerly, on 
two different occasions, taken a decided and active part in 
opposition to slavery, once in 1853, when he ineffectually 
tried to unite the more distant missionaries of the American 
Board in a public protest against American slavery, and 
again in 1854, when he preached and published a sermon 
called "Our Country's Sin," it was doubtless hoped, by those 
who were taking that side in this Annual Meeting, that the 
weight of his influence would be thrown in their favor. He, 
however, remained silent. [To avoid recurrence to Dr. Per- 
kins, it may be mentioned here, that he preserved a like 
shameful silence, though present, when the yet worse trans- 
actions of the next Annual Meeting were going on.] 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 217 

The Prudential Committee, in some " remarks " at the 
close of their account of the Annual Meeting of 1859, ex- 
press their regret (tempered bj resignation) at the fact that 
some members of the Board chose to occupy its time with 
debates on slavery, as follows : — 

"remarks. 
" It was, doubtless, deeply regi-ettcd by many members, and others 
in attendance on this meeting of the Board, that so much time should 
have been occupied by discussions, interesting indeed, and to some 
extent exciting, but not calculated to awaken the best Christian feel- 
ing, or to enlist the deepest sympathies of the followers of Christ, 
and call forth their most earnest etfbrts, in connection with the mis- 
sionary work. Yet, under the circumstances of the case, considering 
not onh^ the action in regard to the Choctaw mission which was 
reported by the Prudential Committee, but remembering that the 
fearful evils and sins of slavery and of the slave-trade were actually 
witnessed in some of the fields occupied by missions of this Board, 
seriously affecting the interests of tlie missions, it was hardly to be 
expected that a meeting calling together so many persons, from dif- 
ferent sections of our Avidely extended country, Avould be exempt 
from such discussions." — p. 30. 

The Prudential Committee had now freed themselves from 
the " embarrassments and perplexities " of further remon- 
strance against their complicity with slavery in the Choctaw 
mission, by summarily "discontinuing" that mission. They 
left its slaveholding church members, " in good and regular 
standing," with "a name to live" as Christians. They left 
its pro-slavery missionaries with hearty commendation of 
their conscientiousness, faithfulness and devotedness, and 
with the manifestation of especial interest in their " excel- 
lent friend and brother, Mr. Byington," of the Stockbridge 
station. All these were now free, if they chose, to connect 
themselves with those " religious bodies in the adjoining 
States," which had been charged by the Board, in Septem- 
ber, 1858, with " a lamentable defection from some of the 
first and most elementary ideas of Christian morality," yet 
suggested by the Prudential Committee, in their subsequent 
letter of October 5th, in the same year, as the body with 
which it was "probable" that their dismissed missionaries 
would " come into connection." 

In the Annual Report for 1860, the Prudential Com- 
mittee's statement relating to the Clierokee mission is as 
follows : — 

10 



218 THE AMERICAN BOARD 



"the board closes its work AMONG THE CHEROKEES. 

" The Committee liare arrived at the conclusion, that it is time 
for the Board to discontinue its expenditures among the Cherokees. 
To prevent all misapprehensions, it should be stated at the outset ; — 
First, that this is not owing to the relations of our work among 
these Indians to the system of slavery ; the mission having former- 
ly assented to the principles embodied in what is generally known 
as the ' Good-water Settlement,' which was approved by the Board 
at Utica, and the Committee having no evidence that the brethren 
now constituting the mission have departed, in theory or practice, 
from those principles. And, secondly, it is due to the missionaries 
to sa}' further, that the prevailing opinion among them is adverse to 
the Board's retiring from the Cherokee Nation. This is what 
should be expected of brethren devoted to their work, in such cir- 
cumstances ; and it may be hoped that some of our various Home 
Missionary Societies will interpose, to sustain them longer at their 
stations. 

" To aid in determining the duty of the Board in respect to this 
field, a series of inquiries was addressed, early in the present year, 
to each of our three ordained missionaries among this people, and 
from these brethren answers w^ere received, which, copied out in a 
fair hand, together fill one hundred pages of manuscript. The last 
of the responses was received as late as August. The question is, — 
Considering the state and prospects of the work among the Chero- 
kees, and the claims of other missions, and of other parts of the 
unevangelized world, whether the Board may now properly retire 
from the field, and expend elsewhere the five or six thousand dollars 
required for the support of this mission. 

" 1. The Cherokees are a Christian People. 

" This mission is one of the oldest under the care of the Board, 
having been in operation about forty-three years. It has employed 
18 clerical missionaries, 29 laymen of ditFerent occupations, and 66 
female assistant missionaries, or 113 in all; and $356,421 have been 
expended in it from the Treasury of the Board. 

" As the result of these and other kindred efforts, the Cherokees 
have been elevated from the savage state to their present degree of 
civilization. Doubtless, among the ignorant portions of the people, 
there are remains of superstitious notions and habits, greater than 
are found in older Christian communities ; but the people, as a 
body, give the common proofs of being a Christian people. Hoav- 
ever low may be the standard of their Christianity, it is their only 
religion. The people are generally, as with us, ranked in one or 
another of the evangelical denominations. And they are accessible 
to Christian preachers, and listen to them with the same deference 
as do their white brethren in the adjoining States. They inhabit 
chiefly the eastern section of their territory, which borders on the 
State of Arkansas ; extending north and south about one hundred 
miles, and east and west about seventj^-five miles. The Cherokee 
people are supposed to number about 21,000. Our three missionary 
brethren, residing among them, concur in the opinion, that they 
reckon themselves, and are to be acknowledged, a Christian people. 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 219 

Mr. Torrey says : ' Christianity is recognized among them, as much 
as in any portion of the United States. Tlieir Constitution provides 
[Art. YI. Sec. 1] that no person wlio denies tlie being of a God, or 
a future state of reward and punishment, shall hold any office in the 
civil department of this nation.' Mr. Kanney says : 'The nation, 
as such, I presume, Avould claim to be called a Christian nation. 
Some laws have been passed by the Cherokee Council, wiiich have 
recognized Christianity as the religion of the nation. This has 
been done incidentally, rather than directly and positively. I sup- 
pose that, almost universally, they would desire to be called 
Christians.' And Mr. Willey bears a similar testimony. ' I 
think,' he sa3's, 'that the Cherokees, as a nation, may justly be 
called a nominally Christian nation. The Constitution of the nation 
recognizes the Christian religion, and requires a belief in it by all 
Avho hold office under the government. All teachers in the public 
schools are required, by law, to have the Bible read in their schools 
daily ; and when they are prej)ared for it, they are requested to 
pray daily in their schools.' 

" 2. Uoio far the Cherohees have the Gospel Institutions. 

" ' In this territory and population,' Mr. Torrey says, ' there are 
probably, of all denominations, including native pastors and ex- 
horters, not less than sixty licensed preachers, or one to about 
every four hundred iidiabitants. Of these, sixteen are Avhite men, — 
namely, three missionaries of the American Board ; three Mora- 
vians ; three Northern Baptists ; two Southern Baptists ; and five 
Methodists. There is probably no citizen of the nation who is not 
within a convenient distance of occasional religious meetings. 
There are, I believe, thirty public school-houses, all of which are 
used more or less as preaching places, and probably more than 
double that number of other places of worship.' The stations of 
the Board are in the southern section of this territory. The Mora- 
vians have two or three stations in the northern section ; the 
Northern Baptists occupy the eastern side ; while the jNIethodist 
circuit-riders, and a portion of the Baptists, perhaps mostly from the 
South, range through the territory. ' The Methodists,' JNIr. Torrey 
writes from Park Hill, ' are building a large brick church on the 
hill opposite ours, and in full view of it, about two miles distant, to 
cost 83,000.' Mr. Eanney, writing from Lee's Creek, says : ' The 
Baptists have built a meeting-house Avithin about half a mile of the 
station, where they frequently have preaching.' ]\Ir. Torrey thinks 
there is no part of the country that is not frequently visited by 
preachers from the Methodist or Baptist denominations. Mr. 
Ranney supposes that all can hear some kind of preaching, at least 
occasionally, from some one of the denominations ; but that only a 
very small proportion have opportunity to hear the preached Gospel 
statedly and regularly on the Sabbath. 

"Mr. Torrey reports the church members as being more than 
three thousand in number, constituting more than one-third of the 
adult population. Of these, the Northern Baptists have the largest 
number, or about fifteen hundred ; the Methodists the next largest; 
the Southern Baptists the next ; and the Moravians about two 
hundred and fifty. Of the actual piety of this large membership, 



220 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

we may not speak confidently. Where so many have opportunity 
to attend only three or four meetings in a year, even though these 
meetings be protracted, we can hardly look for much religious 
knowledge, or effective Christian character, especially as the larger 
portion of the native preachers are said to have but little education. 
Our brethren declare, that no members have been received into 
either of our own churches, without first giving what they deemed 
to be credible evidence of repentance and faith in Christ. In this 
there has been exact conformity to the principle recognized by the 
Board: — 'That credible evidence of repentance and faith in Christ, 
in the judgment of the missionaries and the churches they gather, 
entitles professed converts from among the heathen to the ordinances 
of baptism and the Lord's supper ; those ordinances being evidently 
designed by Christ to be means of grace for such.' Mr. Ran- 
ney regards the members of his own church, at Lee's Creek, as 
furnishing the same evidence of faith and repentance, as did the 
members of a church in Vermont, where he labored as a minister of 
the Gospel before going among the Cherokees. 

" 3. Difficulties in the way of further Operations hy the Board. 

" Whether it be possible for a missionary society, situated like 
the Board, to revive this mission, and to prosecute it vigorously for 
a succession of years, is a nuitter of considerable doubt. One of our 
brethren thus writes : ' To one who looks upon the surface, the 
position which your missionaries now occupy among this people 
amounts to this. They are laboring under a complication of disad- 
vantages ; at a great expense — greater, I suppose, in proportion to 
the extent of their operations, than that of any other denomination ; 
shut out, at least for the present, from adding to the number of their 
stations, or exchanging them for more promising localities ; regarded 
with jealousy by a very influential portion of the community ; with 
no active native preachers ; with small congregations ; with very 
few young persons connected with their churches; with a member- 
ship which has not materially increased for many years, and with 
scarcely any promise of future accessions : and competing Avith other 
sects, Avho occup3% indisci'iminately, every part of the country', have 
a large corps of native assistants, and count their audiences at times 
by thousands, and their accessions by scores.' Looking deeper, this 
brother sees 'something under this weak and despised exterior,' 
in its healthful influence on the piety and morals of the nation, 
'that is really worth all the cost and contumely which have at- 
tended this mission for the last ten or fifteen years.' This is proba- 
bly true of the past. Yet among a people situated like the Chero- 
kees, and with such an all-pervading inroad of other denominations, 
it must be difficult for the Board to regain its ground; mainly be- 
cause so many other professedly Christian teachers occupy it. The 
l^roportion of the people now reached by our ministrations is com- 
paratively small. The audience at Park Hill is not far from forty ; 
that at Fairfield (a monthly meeting) is sixty ; at Dwight, it is from 
sixty to one hundred ; and at Lee's Creek, seventy -five. Moreover, 
all the missionaries preach through interpreters. If it were possi- 
ble, as it is not, to procure native pastors for the small churches 
at each of these places, the people could not be induced to support 



IN RELATION TO SLAYERT. 221 

them ; ' since other denominations/ as we are assurefl, ' wonld 
very readily take the support of these churclies upon their liands, 
on condition of receiving them into their fellowship.' Elsewlu-re, 
the same writer speaks more fully on this important point. ' Unlike 
most nations emerging from heathenism/ he says, 'this people 
have, from the memory of the oldest, and I do not know but alwaj's, 
been entirely exempt from taxes. They are able to give but little 
at the best, and they think themselves less able than they really are. 
Their idea of ptiblic money is money paid to them, for their ben- 
efit; not by them, for the public good. As to eating and drinking, 
they are liberal, and will share the last loaf with the needy. They 
will often provide entertainment at camp-meetings, at no small ex- 
pense of labor, time, and property. But to persuade them to carry 
these same provisions quietly to their minister, to be used frugally 
for his family's necessities, would be no easy task. Again, the 
moment these stations are deserted by the missionaries, there are 
at least three denominations, who are ready to furnish them with 
preaching free from all expense, except an occasional contribution 
and camp-meeting; and who would take our educated young men 
into their service (if they would consent) at a salary higher and 
surer than they could possibly secure from the people, under the 
most favorable circumstances.' These are facts which should obvi- 
ously have much weight in determining the future duty of the 
Board. Churches that are to be alwa^'s dependent, in lands which 
have become professedly Christian, can have but a slender claim 
upon institutions that exist for the propagation of the Gospel among 
heathen nations. Until the churches shall enter more readily and 
fully into the work of missions, such investments cannot be wise. 

" Should the Board occupy new districts in the Cherokee coun- 
try, there is reason to believe that other denominations would follow 
us, and there render it as impossible for us to make headway as 
they do where we now are. And in obtaining new locations, in 
forming new relations, in starting anew in every thing, with such 
obstacles, and with tiie disadvantage of prejudices, however ground- 
less, against us as a Xorthern society, — prejudices, so prone to start 
periodically into life and vigor, upon the recurrence of our national 
agitations during the Presidential election, — our prospective embar- 
rassments are too great, and our success is too doubtful, to warrant 
the attempt. 'I suppose,' says one of our brethren, 'that to 
attempt to establish ncAv stations without an act of Council, would 
be simply to forfeit our expenditures ; and I have no idea that such 
an act could be obtained.' 

" The national law on this subject, passed September, 1839, is as 
follows : — 

" ' Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, that in future, no missionary school or 
establishment shall be located, or erected, without permission being first 
obtained from the 2\ationaI Council for such purpose, and the place desig- 
nated by law for the same, with such other general regulations as maj' be 
deemed necessary and proper, either as conducive to its particular use- 
fulness, or conformity to national rights and interests.' " 



222 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

" 4. The Mission Discontinued. 

" In view of these facts and circumstances, and for the reasons 
thus briefly stated, or suggested, and for no other or different 
reasons, the Prudential Committee have deemed it expedient to dis- 
continue this mission. To this end, they have recently adopted the 
Eesolutions that follow — namely : 

" Resolved, — 1. That, in the adoption of the Christian religion by the 
Cherokee people, and the recognition of it by their government; in the 
general diifusion among them of Gospel institutions, though under dif- 
ferent forms; in the introduction and permanent establishment of the 
principles and practices of piety, though of course under many imperfec- 
tions; and in the creation, notwithstanding formidable obstacles, of a 
regulated civil community, from one of the largest aboriginal tribes of 
our Continent, — the Prudential Committee gratefully acknowledge a 
work of divine grace, amply rewarding the exertions and expenditures 
which have been made, by Christians of different names, in this behalf. 

" 2. That while the spiritual renovation of the Cherokee people is con- 
fessedly imperfect, the Committee regard the appropriate work of the Board 
among that people as having been so far accomplished, and the further 
successful prosecution of its labors as, at the same time, so far impeded by 
the intervention of other denominations better situated for operating there 
than ourselves, as to render it proper and expedient for the Board to 
withdraw, and expend the funds hitherto devoted to this field in other 
more needy portions of the unevangelized world, where it can now work 
to better advantage. 

"3. That, accordingly, the mission of the Board among the Cherokees 
should be, and it is hereby, discontinued. 

'' 4. That this does not at once terminate the personal relations of the 
members of this mission to the Board, but leaves them at liberty to make 
such arrangements for the future as they shall severally judge proper; 
and the Committee will recognize their claim to such pecuniary aid, 
whenever they retire from their connection with the Board, as its rules, 
usages and means enable it to afford. 

" 5. To prevent the possibility of misapprehension, it is further re- 
solved, that the mission is not discontinued because of any unfaithfulness 
on the part of our brethren in that mission; they having been exemplary, 
so far as is known to the Committee, in the discharge of all their mission- 
ary duties." — pp. 137-142. 

" The Cherokees," say the Prudential Committee, " are a 
Christian People " ! — and, in some concluding reflections, 
designed to fix this idea, by repetition, in the minds of their 
readers, they sum up the matter thus : — 

" The mission is not abandoned ; but our appropriate work is done. 
The Cherokee people have been Christianized, through the divine 
favor, and wiiat remains for building up and sustaining the institu- 
tions of the Gospel — which is eveiy where a work never brought to 
a close — must be left to others ; for the reason that our appropriate 
work is no longer there." — p. 145. 

The details above given by the Prudential Committee do 
not give us a very exalted idea either of the quantity or 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 223 

quality of the Christianization thus claimed. But, to sec 
how small is its quantity, and how poor its quality, even 
according to the Prudential Committee's own standard, we 
must collect those scattered evidences which form the basis 
of the assertion that the Cherokees (acknowledged by the 
Committee to number " about 21,000 ") are " a Christian 
people." 

First, as to quantity. Here are the numbers, given in a 
statistical table, (p. 143,) of the Cherokees who are church 
members at the four mission stations of the Board in that 
nation : — 

At Park Hill, 33 

" Fairfield, 24 

" Dwight, 59 

" Lee's Creek, 20 

136 

The Annual Report for 1859 (p. 149) tells us that of the 
twenty-four church members of the meeting at Fairfield, (a 
monthly meeting,) the " average attendance " is " only four 
or five." The average attendance of communicants at the 
other three stations is not given. 

By counting in the white communicants and the colored 
communicants in these four churches, the entire number of 
the Board's church members in the Cherokee nation is raised 
to 183. But it is upon the 136 Cherokee church members 
that the claim must stand (if at all) that "the [21,000] 
Cherokees are a Christian people." 

There is, however, one more chance for the Prudential 
Committee's claim to be substantiated. If a large propor- 
tion of the nation are punctual and devout attendants upon 
the preaching of a pure Gospel, thus manifesting their respect 
for Christianity, and their allegiance to it, they may, perhaps, 
in the judgment of charity, be called a Christian nation. 
To judge fairly of the claim that the Cherokee nation is 
Christianized, we should look, not at the number of church 
members only, but at the size of the congregations which the 
missionaries report as usually attendant on their Sabbath 
services. These are given as follows, pp. 140, 141, of the 
Annual Beport for 1860 : — 



224 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

Audience at Park Hill, . . . .40 

" " Fairiielcl, (monthly,) . . 60 

" Dwight, " 60 to 100," say . 80 

" " Lee's Creek, ... 75 

255 

It is, then, on the strength of four Sabbath audiences, 
amounting in all, church members included, to 255, that the 
21,000 Cherokees are declared " a Christian people " ! 

It is true that the Prudential Committee bring, in aid of 
their comprehensive claim of a Christian character for the 
Cherokee nation, sundry statistics respecting the " licensed 
preachers " of other ecclesiastical bodies (chiefly Baptists and 
Methodists) who are operating in the Cherokee country, and 
who have gathered churches there. But when we remember 
(even apart from the fact of their being inveterately pro- 
slavery) that the bodies by whom these preachers are 
" licensed " are the very ones which have been charged by 
the Board with " a lamentable defection from some of the 
first and most elementary ideas of Christian morality," (p, 17 
of Annual Report for 1858,) we shall find that this specifica- 
tion, instead of helping the claim of the Prudential Commit- 
tee, hinders it ; instead of showing, as the heading of their 
paragraph would deceitfully represent, "iZoz^ far the Chero- 
kees have the Gospel Institutions^''' it only shows another 
effort on their part to mislead the readers of the report, and 
to claim a Christian character for a pro-slavery system, out- 
side as well as inside of their own operations. 

Having looked at the amount of the thing claimed as 
Christianity in the Board's four churches in the Cherokee 
nation, let us next look at its quality. Perhaps its ardor, 
its devotedness, compensate for its small numerical amount. 
Perhaps the number was kept so small because only eminent 
Christians were admitted to the Church. Let us see. 

The first thing to be noticed is, that what they called 
Christianity included a recognition of the holding, the buy- 
ing and selling of slaves as entirely unobjectionable; as 
something, the right to do which was to be upheld by law 
and custom, in Church and State. 

But, passing by this consideration, let us test them by the 
Boa.rd's standard of Christian character; namely, their 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 225 

practical use of church membership ; their appreciation of 
" the privileges of the sanctuary." To do this, I will quote 
the statements respecting the spiritual condition of the 136 
Cherokee Christians, from the last four Annual Reports of 
the Prudential Committee, including that which records the 
" discontinuance " of the mission. 
The Annual Report for 1857 says — 

" The history of the churches under the care of this mission for 
several years has been singularly uniform The total mem- 
bership of the churches remains very nearly as it was in 1851 

The interest in the Cherokee churches in the services of the sanc- 
tuary does not seem to have deepened. At some of the stations, 
the number of Avorshippers on the Sabbath has slightly increased ; 
but, on the whole, no certain improvement in this particular can be 
reported." — p. 14:0. 

The Annual Report for 1858 says — 

" The brethren of this mission, with one exception, are unable to 
report any religious interest which can properly be called a revival. 
INIr. IJanney has admitted four persons to the church at Lee's 

Creek A few additions have also been made to the church 

at Honey Creek. But the reports from Park Hill and Fairfield are 
less cheering. The past year, Mr. "Worcester writes, has unhappily 
been one of sad apathy in regard to the most interesting of all con- 
cerns. My preaching thus far, Mr. Torrey says, has been attended 
with but little apparent profit. I have some reason to believe that 
two or three persons have been led to indulge a hope in Christ 
through my word. Whether their hope is well founded or not, 

remains to be seen The grace of liberality is not largely 

bestowed upon the Cherokees." — pp. 128, 129. 

The Report for 1859 says — 

" The past year cannot be regarded as one of special prosperity. 
The additions to the number of communicants are only seven; so 
that, taking into account the annual loss by death or otherwise, the 
churches have received no accession to their strength." — p. IIT. 

" The amount contributed for benevolent purposes cannot be 
reported with accuracy. It is presumed, however, that there has 
been no advance upon the liberality of former years." — p. 118. 

" In speaking of this church, one year ago, Mr. Torrey stated 
that, of twelve colored members, none resided within eight miles of 
him ; and that, of thirty-one Indian members, only fourteen lived 
within six miles of him ; the rest being entirely, oralmost entirely, 
beyond his reach. The average attendance of communicants at 
Fairfield is only four or five. It Avas not till a few weeks since that 
he could report the first direct, tangible, satisfactory case of conver- 
sion connected with his labors. As there is no reason whatever tg 
10* 



226 



THE AMERICAN BOARD 



call in question the fidelity and earnestness of this brother, the Com- 
mittee are not clear that, in the present state of the world, the 
Board should prolong its efforts at this station." — p. 149. 

The suggestion made in the sentence last quoted was carried 
into execution, and the Annual Report for 1860 announced 
that the Prudential Committee had closed their work among 
the Cherokees. The statement in that Report respecting the 
spiritual prosperity of that year was as follows : — 

" The past }• ear has not been one of ingathering to the churches ; 
though they have preserved their general good estate, as compared 
with the other religious communities in the nation." 

Which is to say, (if we " put that and that together,") — 
that, though there are no more Christians than last year, the 
previously existing ones show nothing worse than " a 
lamentable defection from some of the first and most ele- 
mentary ideas of Christian morality." 

Thus it appears that the real basis of the claim of Chris- 
tian character for the nation of 21,000 Cherokees is the 
existence of 136 Cherokee church members, of the sort 
above described, and the attendance of 119 more persons, on 
Sundays, upon those means of grace which converted the 136. 
The next inquiry to be made is — What action was taken 
by the Board, in their Annual Meeting, October, 1860, upon 
the decision of the Prudential Committee to discontinue the 
Cherokee mission ? What did the Board say to the declara- 
tion of the Prudential Committee, manifestly false, that this 
relinquishment had not been made on account of slavery ? 
What did they say to the declaration, alike false and pre- 
posterous, that the real reason of the relinquishment was 
that their efibrts to Christianize were not needed there, be- 
cause the nation were already Christians? What did they 
say to the details of evidence adduced in support of this 
hypothesis that the Cherokees were a Christian people, name- 
ly : that 136 of them, out of 21,0U0, were members of 
churches, these churches agreeing to recognize slaveholders, 
equally with others, as Christians : that this church member- 
ship comprises " very few young persons," that it " has not 
materally increased for many years," and that it has " scarce- 
ly any promise of future accessions " ; that these Cherokee 
Christians have " no active native preachers" : that even the 
mdiences (church members and others, Cherokee, white and 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 227 

colored,) which usually assembled at their four stations, were 
only 40, 60, 80 and 75, making but 255 hearers of the 
Board's Gospel out of 21,000 : and finally, that " if it were 
possible, as it is not, to procure native pastors for the small 
churches at each of these places, the people could not be 
INDUCED TO support THEM ! " What did the Board say to 
this sort of evidence that " the Cherokees are a Christian 
people " ? 

They said nothing! Even the Committee* to whom, in 
the ordinary course of business, this portion of the Report 
of the Prudential Committee was referred, said nothing, 
either of the double deceit therein practised by the Prudential 
Committee, or of the absurdity of claiming a Christian 
character for the Cherokee nation upon such grounds. On 
the contrary, they " recommended the adoption of the fol- 
lowing resolution, and it was adopted" by the Board: 
namely — 

"Resolved, That the action of tlie Prudential Committee in refer- 
ence to the Cherokee mission be, and the same is hereby, approved 
by the Board." — p. 16. 

Immediately after this record in the proceedings of the 
Annual Meeting in 18G0, comes the following, from which it 
appears that certain members and friends of the Board, 
Orthodox Congregational Ministers forming the General 
Association of Illinois, had made one more effort to induce 
the Board to purify itself from complicity with slavery : — 

" RESOLUTIONS OF THE GEXEllAL ASSOCIATIOX OF ILLINOIS. 

" The Business Committee reported that certain Resolutions 
of the General Association of Illinois, on 'the relation of the 
Board to the Cherokee Mission,' had been brought to their 
notice, and recommended that they be referred to the Committee 
to whom the Report of the Prudential Committee, respecting that 
mission, had been referred. This was done accordingly. The 
Resolutions are as folloAvs : — 

'"1. Besohed, That the cause of Foreign Missions is vitally con- 
nected Avith the spiritual prosperity of our churches, and entitled to 
hold a leading place in their Christian affections and charities ; and 
that its appeals to their sympathies, prayers, and self-denying bene- 

* The Committee on the Cherokee mission consisted of Rev. Dr. Beman, 
Judge Jessup, Wm. C. Gihuan, Esq., Rev. Dr. Asa D. Smith, Rev. Dr. 
Sabin, Rev. Wm. A. Nichols, and Rev. J. Gr. Davis. 



228 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

factions, were never so loud and urgent as, in the providence of 
God, they are at tlie present time. 

" ' 2. Resolved, That we most gratefully acknowledge the good 
hand of our God in the foreign missionary work which, during the 
last half century, the American Board, the pioneer of our benevo- 
lent societies, has been enabled, through the divine blessing, to 
accomplish ; in the information which it has collected and ditfused 
throughout Christendom respecting the heathen world ; in the com- 
passion for the perishing and the zeal for Christ which it has kin- 
dled in the hearts of his disciples ; in the spirit of self-denial and 
self-sacrifice which it has quickened and fostered ; in the blessings 
of a Christian civilization which it has conferred upon the benighted 
and degraded; in the many trophies for Christ and heaven which it 
has won from Paganism ; in the impulse which it has given to the 
great cause of Christian benevolence ; and in all the forms in which, 
at home and abroad, it has advanced the triumphs of the Redeemer's 
Kingdom among men ; — and that we desire that the Board may 
enter upon the second half century of its career with fresh unction 
and fresh power, relieved of every disability which may impair its 
moral influence, cripple its energies, diminish its resources, or ob- 
struct its widest usefulness. 

" ' 3. Resolved, That we regard it as demanded alike hy the Gospel 
and humanity, and an object of intense desire, in view of the existing 
state of the national mind, the demand and associations of the ap- 
proaching jubilee, and the highest influence and success of the 
Board, that the divorce of slaveholding from Christianity be com- 
pleted at once in the churches of the Cherokee nation, and that a 
full declaration of principles against slavery be sent forth to the 
world, as the testimony ot the Board to that great cause which now 
involves the deepest interests of humanity.' 

" The Committee subsequently i-eported, that 'the action of the 
Prudential Committee, and the statements contained in their 
Report with reference to the Cherokee Mission, taken in connec- 
tion with previous declarations of the Board, have satisfactorily 
answered the requests of the General Association of Illinois ; and 
no further action of the Board is deemed necessary.' This report 
was accepted by the Board." — p. 1 7. 

It appears from the first paragraph of this monstrous re- 
port, that not the Business Committee, but the Committee 
which had just echoed the relinquishment of the Cherokee 
Mission, are to be held responsible for it. No where in the 
whole action of the managers of the Board (I am aware that 
this is a very strong expression) has there been a more 
palpable and impudent fraud than the assertion of this 
Reverend Committee, that the cutting loose of the slavehold- 
ing Cherokee churches from the Board has " satisfactorily 
answered the requests of the General Association of Illinois," 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 229 

which were, first, " that the divorce of slaveholding from 
Christiauitj be completed at once i?i the churches of the 
Cherokee nation "; and next, " that a full declaration of prin- 
ciples against slavery be sent forth to the world as the testi- 
mony of the Board." 

It is by their accustomed careless acceptance and adoption 
of reports like this, (the endorsement of a reputable merchant 
upon a forged check,) that the Board enable the fictions, 
elaborated by complicity of the Special Committees with the 
Prudential Committee, to pass current as truth in the com- 
munity. 

The next action, in the Annual Meeting of 1860, was in 
regard to the foreign slave-trade, a memorial against which, 
presented by Rev. Dr. Cheever to the Annual Meeting of the 
previous year, had, after discussion, been shoved out of the 
way by a reference to the Prudential Committee. (See 
ante, p. 216.) As this body hoped now to get the whole 
subject of slavery off their hands, they brought up this 
branch of it also, to receive its quietus, as follows — (it 
will be observed that they avoid mentioning loho presented 
the memorial): — 

" THE SLAVE TRADE. 

"At a meeting of the Board in 1859, a memorial on the subject 
of the African slave trade, which had been presented for adop- 
tion, together with the whole subject thus brought before the 
Board, was referred to the Prudential Committee. In their Ee- 
port upon the Gaboon mission, (which was referred to the Com- 
mittee on missions in Africa,) the following statements are made 
upon this subject, and, information having been called for, were 
read before the Board : — 

" ' It is gratifying to learn, from recent statements, that the French 
Government have promised to discontinue their "emigrant" tratiic 
after the ])resent season. This trafSc, at the Gaboon, has been less 
than usual during the year, and it has less affected the operations of 
the mission than heretofore. 

" ' The Committee were instructed by the Board, at its last meet- 
ing, to take such action concerning the slave-trade, in tins and its 
other form, "as in their judgment its relations to their work, as a 
Board of Missions, shall seem to demand." No time was lost in 
attending to the duty. Mr. Walker, of the Gaboon mission, being 
then in "the country, and being one of tlie best authorities on the 
subject, was consulted. His opinion as to the "emigrant trade" 
corresponded with the facts above reported, and he thought more 



230 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

harm than good would result from memorializing the national Gov- 
ernment at present. In this opinion, the brethren at the Gaboon 
subsequently concurred, as the Committee were informed by INIr. 
Bushnell. It was also the belief of Mr. Walker, that the slave- 
trade, in its customary form, is not now directly atfecting us. The 
Committee embodied these views in a report, which they placed on 
their files, and do not think it incumbent on the Board to bring this 
matter before our Government under existing circumstances.' 

" The report here mentioned as having been placed on file by 
the Prudential Committee, which is dated November 8, 1859, was 
put into the hands of the same Committee, on the African mis- 
sions, and was also read to the Board. It is as follows: — 

" * The sub-committee to whom was referred the memorial on the 
slave-trade, which was presented to the Board at its late meeting at 
Philadelphia, and b}^ the Board referred to the Prudential Commit- 
tee, have considered the matter, and report : 

" ' The question now to be considered is this : Is it expedient for 
the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, or for 
the Prudential Committee in the behalf of said Board, now to memo- 
rialize the Congress of the United States, or the President of the 
United States, on the subject of the African slave-trade 1 

" ' That this trade is an enormous evil, wherever it exists, there 
can be no doubt. It pollutes whatever it touches, and desolates 
wherever it goes. And this is probably just as true of the exporta- 
tion of "free emigrants" from Africa, under the authority of the 
Prench Government, as it is of the general slave-trade. 

" ' Great, however, as the evil may be, it is our clear conviction 
that neither the Board, nor its Committee, ought to memorialize the 
Congress or the President of the United States, unless the trade, in 
some of its forms, evidently interferes Avith the proper missionary 
work of the Board. This missionary work is now carried on among 
the Zulus, upon the south-eastern coast, and at the mouth of the 
Gaboon, on the western coast of Africa. 

" ' The foreign slave-trade, in either of its forms, has not directly 
interfered with our missionarj^ work among the Zulus. The trade 
does not exist in that territory, and will not be likely to enter it, as 
the territory is under British authority. 

" * Neither has the Gaboon country been disturbed by the general 
slave-trade for years, the nearest market for the purchase of slaves 
being at the mouth of the Nazareth, about one hundred miles south 
of the Gaboon. The trade in "free emigrants," by the French, 
has, however, been established and carried on at the Gaboon. Mr. 
Walker, one of our missionaries, says of this trade : " It is not dif- 
ferent from the old slave-trade, except in name and profession of 
philanthrophy, and the presence of a naval officer aboard each ves- 
sel, to protect it from the English cruiser on the coast. But these 
things only intensify it, and make it more effectual for the accom- 
plishment of evil." If, then, there is a strong probability that this 
trade will be long continued at tliis point, it would seem to be proper 
and expedient for the American Board to address the President of 



IN EELATION TO SLAVERY. 231 

the United States, in the endeaA'or, and with the hope, of securing 
the inliuence of this Government Avith the French Government, in 
favor of the discontinuance of this trade, because of its interference 
with their missionary work. Mr. Walker, however, is of the opin- 
ion, that this tralfic will not be long continued at the Gaboon. He 
says : " I see that this trathc is suspended by Government order on 
the east coast. It has also been abandoned in Liberia. Last month, 
Mr. Best wrote me that the trade in the Gaboon had met with so 
strong a competition from the increase of English trade there, that 
the vessels were preparing to leave for other parts of the coast. But 
dates of a month later speak of the vessels as still there. I do not 
think the trade is to continue. The present arrangement terminates 
in about two years, and from the fact that it has been withdrawn 
from the east coast, and the constant opposition of the Enghsh Gov- 
ernment, as well as English trade, I do not think the arrangement 
will be renewed. I do'not think that the French emigrant system 
is to affect us in the Gaboon, or any other missionaries on the coast, 
seriously." 

" ' We regard Mr. Walker as the very best authority on tliis sub- 
ject, and with his testimony and opinion so clearl}' expressed before 
us, we cannot think it advisable to address the President on the sub- 
ject at the present time. If it shall be found, in the course of events, 
that the expectations of Mr. AValker are not realized, and that this 
traffic is likely to be continued, to the injury of our missionary 
work, a suitable appeal will of course hereafter be made by the 
Committee to the President in this behalf.' " — pp. 17-19. 

The Prudential Committee place their refusal to act in this 
important matter on the ground of the opinion of Mr. 
Walker, one of their missionaries, whom they represent as 
" the very best authority on this subject." 

Mr. Walker is a very hopeful man. Thirteen years ago, 
(1848,) writing from the same mission, he announced that 
the slave-trade was already " broken up." In the Prudential 
Committee's Annual Ileport for that year occurs this report 
from Mr. Walker respecting " King George's town " : — 

" The people there are debased, suffering through the influence of 
the slave-trade ; which, however, has been broken uj) by the activity 
of English and American cruisers." — p. 134. 

Mr. Wilson, also, another missionary of the Board at the 
Gaboon, has shown himself unduly hopeful upon the same 
subject. In the Annual Ileport for 1852, Mr. Wilson 

says — 

" The English squadron has very nearly put a final end to the 
slave-trade. All its strongholds in the vicinity of the Congo have 
recently been abandoned. Indeed, I know of but three points on 
the whole coast now where it is still continued ; and these, I have 
no doubt, will be relinquished before the close of the present year." 



232 



THE AMERICAN BOARD 



In another statement, (subsequently written, thougli in the 
same year,) Mr. Wilson says, (p. 218) — 

" It will be gratifying to the friends of hunianit}^ to know, that the 
slave-trade on the coast of Africa is virtually broken up, and proha- 
hly will never he revived again." 

Coming down to the year 1859, Mr. Walker's confidence 
becomes somewhat less positive. In their Annual Report 
for that year, complaining that at the Gaboon " domestic 
slavery is extensive and increasing^''' the Prudential Com- 
mittee state that — " Mr. Walker thinks the French slave- 
trade cannot long continue.'''' 

In the quotations from Mr. Walker in the Annual Report 
for 1860, which we are now examining, that gentleman's 
confidence seems yet further diminished. Speaking of the 
trade in "free emigrants" by the French, which, he de- 
clares, " is not different from the old slave-trade, except in 
name, and profession of philanthropy," his ground for en- 
couragement is that " the present arrangement terminates in 
about two years," and he does not think it will be renewed ! 

What an insult is it to the common sense of the com- 
munity — a community which has heard the energetic ex- 
pressions of Southern determination to have the foreign 
slave-trade speedily revived, and which has seen several 
books and pamphlets recently published, by clergymen and 
others, in direct advocacy of such revival — what an insult 
to our common sense is it for the Prudential Committee to 
say, immediately after the passage last quoted from Mr. 
W^alker — a passage also bearing in the very opposite direc- 
tion — 

" We regard Mr. "Walker as the very best authority on this sub- 
ject, and, with his testimony and opinion so clearly expressed before 
us, we cannot think it advisable to address the President on the sub- 
ject at the present time." 

Even this perversion of Mr. Walker's testimony is not the 
worst of the deceit here practised by the Prudential Com- 
mittee. In the face of his testimony, (in 1859, that the 
French slave-trade still existed in the Gaboon, and in 1860, 
that " the present arrangement " for it was to continue two 
years longer,) and in the face of their own lamentation, (p. 
40 of Ann. Rep. for 1859,) that slavery in the Gaboon 



IN RELATION TO SLAYERY. 233 

was increasing, and that much of the property there is in 
the form of slaves, they now say — 

" Xeitlier has the Gaboon country been disturbed by the general 
slave-trade ybr years." 

This statement is made in the hope to persuade the com- 
munity that " neither the Board, nor its Committee, ought 
to memorialize the Congress, or the President, of the United 
States, unless the trade, in some of its forms, evidently inter- 
feres with the proper missionary work of the Board " ! 

If it shall seem incredible to any one (for want of having 
the Annual Reports at hand for reference) that this body of 
grave and reverend seigniors should make an assertion which 
could be proved a lie by abundant recent evidence out of 
their own mouths, such doubter should remember, first, that 
these gentlemen, having long been accustomed to an implicit 
acceptance of all their statements as correct, by the patrons 
of their missionary enterprise, have already had a large ex- 
perience in finding ??zi5-statements thus accepted ; and next, 
that much was to be risked, at this particular crisis, in the 
hope of now seeming to become entirely free from their long- 
continued complicity with slavery, and of covering their long 
course of mendacity with the mantle of the past. 

If the Prudential Committee can make it appear (truly or 
untruly) that the African slave-trade causes no direct inter- 
ference " with the proper missionary work of the Board," 
their purpose is answered; outside of this boundary, they 
seem perfectly indifibrent as to the immense threatened en- 
largement of crime in the whites, and of sufiering in the 
blacks, which would necessarily attend the threatened re- 
vival of the foreign slave-trade. As their confidence in the 
" excellent " Mr. Byington seems undisturbed by the fact that 
he sufi'ered one member of his mission-church to burn another 
alive without instituting discipline in regard to it, preaching 
against it, or treating it as an ofi"ence in any manner what- 
ever, so their confidence in the system of complicity with 
slavery, which they have now maintained for more than forty 
years in the Cherokee and Choctaw churches, seems not to 
be in the least disturbed by the recent developments of in- 
veterately pro-slavery character in those tribes. Nay, so 
accustomed have the advocates of the Board become to sub- 



234 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

stitute implicit confidence in the Prudential Committee for 
the exercise of a moderate prudence in " putting that and 
that together," that even the Editor of the New York Evan- 
gelist, in printing (March 21st, 18(31) the following instruc- 
tive passage of history, probably did not even think of the 
responsibility of the Prudential Committee for their forty 
years' course of missionary instruction leading to it. Here is 
the passage : — 

"The Ixdiaxs. — The Cherokee, Choctaw, and other Indian 
tribes of the Southwest, nearly all of them slaveholders, are evi- 
dently under the intiuence of secessionists. The principal Chief 
of the Choctaw Nation has recently convened the local Legislature 
in council, for the purpose of consulting as to the action to be taken 
in view of the secession of the Southern States. The message of 
the Chief reviews the 'grievances' of the South, and the history 
of the slavery agitation in the Northern States, and declares the 
position of the Choctaw Nation to be that of a sovereign and inde- 
pendent State, and not of a territory of the United States, with the 
right to make treaties, and to do all other acts and things which 
a sovereign State may do. He declares that all the sympathies 
and feelings of the Choctaws are with the South, having been born 
and nurtured on its soil, and having institutions in common with 
the Southern States. He deprecates the division of the Union, 
and holds the example up as a warning to his countrymen never 
to let contention and discord enter into their internal and domes- 
tic policy. He recommends that Commissioners be sent to Wash- 
ington city to look after the money interest of the Nation, and to 
take counsel and advice from the President of the United States. 
He also recommends that a General Council of the Chickasaws, 
Creeks, Seminoles, and Choctaws, be held at the central point, for 
the purpose of adopting some line of policy, 'necessary to their 
security.' The General Council responded to the sentiments of 
their Chief by passing resolutions expressing the views of the 
General Council of the Choctaw Nation in reference to the political 
disagreement existing between the Northern and Southern States." 

Later intelligence [Journal of Commerce, August 12th) 
tells us that " the Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles and Chicka- 
saws have given their adherence to the Confederates, and 
probably the Cherokees are divided on the c|uestion." 

The Prudential Committee have just certified that these 
Indians are a " Christian people." After a course of forty 
years of missionary teaching from the "excellent" Mr. 
Byington and his colleagues, they are graduated — Christians ! 
Their " sympathies," it is true, are with the South, in the 
present contest, and their " institutions " are in common with 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 



235 



those of the South. But the excellent Mr. Byington has 
taught them (assuming to teach from the Bible) that slave- 
holding is perfectly consistent with the Christian character ; 
and, no doubt, they will exercise church discipline upon those 
brethren and sisters who burn their slaves alive, as soon as 
they are assured that such was " the practice of the Apos- 
tles " ! 

The foregoing record of facts, supported by full document- 
ary evidence drawn almost exclusively, from the Annual 
lleports of the Prudential Committee, may be summed up as 
follows : — 

1. The missionaries who were sent by the Prudential 
Committee to evangelize the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians 
chose to recognize the slaveholding of those tribes as an 
indifferent and entirely unobjectionable thing, and to honor 
that wicked " institution " by the early and free admission of 
slaveholders to their churches as Christians. 

2. The Prudential Committee not only neglected to warn 
their missionaries, at the outset, against entering into this 
complicity with slavery, but they saw the process begin, and 
go on for many years, without a word of remonstrance, or 
the least sign of dissatisfiction. 

3. When some of their patrons, the givers of the funds 
which they had thus perverted, remonstrated against their 
allowance of this sin, they refused to interfere for its re- 
moval ; and when a large body of their missionaries from 
another station added their protest against slavery, this Pru- 
dential Committee suppressed their testimony, and imposed 
silence upon them by a law which has been ever since en- 
forced, and which still stands (No. 42) among their " Regu- 
lations." 

4. When, in subsequent years, the remonstrances from 
members and patrons of the Board so increased that they 
could no longer be disregarded without risk to the treasury, 
argument was attempted in opposition to them ; and the 
special committees to whom these remonstrances were re- 
ferred, not only defended the existing policy, and recom- 
mended its continuance, but did so by various sorts of mis- 
representation, not unfrequently including direct violations of 
the truth. 



236 THE AMERICAN BOARD 

5. The reports of these special Committees, -while refusing 
to interfere with the admission of slaveholders to the mission 
churches, nevertheless made large admissions in regard to the 
evil character and the pernicious influence of slavery ; and 
they seemed to aim to please both parties, talking against 
that sin in the strain of the remonstrants, even while in 
action they maintained the policy against which those remon- 
strances were directed. 

6. The Prudential Committee acted upon the hint thus 
given ; and ever after, in the reports they made, the corre- 
spondence they held with the missionaries, and the deputa- 
tions they sent to examine and report upon this subject, the 
action recommended (always favorable to the policy of the 
pro-slavery missionaries) was invariably accompanied by a 
strain of voluminous description and pious reflection ^^?^fa- 
vorable to slavery in general. And they took advantage of 
this verbal characteristic of these reports — the fact that 
very much of the phraseology contained in them was adverse 
to slavery — to refer back to these documents, in subsequent 
years, with the claim that they were really in opposition to 
slavery, and that they proved the Board free from com- 
plicity with it. 

7. The Board, leaving all these things with implicit confi- 
dence in the hands of the Prudential Committee, voted, by 
large majorities, whatever they chose to recommend, and 
rejected, by equally large majorities, the action against sla- 
very and the slave-trade occasionally proposed by Dr. 
Cheever, and the few in that body who sympathized with 
him. 

8. Meantime, slavery was bringing forth its natural fruit 
in the Cherokee and Choctaw communities and churches, as 
well as in the slaveholding communities and churches around 
them ; the very pleas of the missionaries in behalf of it — 
such as the extenuating statement, (p. 95 of the Ann. Rep. 
for 1848,) that if the Indians treated their slaves badly, they 
treated their own children badly also, and that no better was 
to be expected of them, under the circumstances — showing 
the corruption which a tolerance of slaveholding was already 
working in the churches. Until finally, when the utmost ex- 
tremity of wickedness and cruelty was manifested by a 
slaveholding woman in one of those churches — the murder of 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 237 

a sister in the ctiurch by burning alive, without a particle of 
legal evidence of her guilt, and in spite of her declaration 
of innocence with her dying breath — this mission church 
showed itself precisely on a level with the profligate slave- 
holding " world " of Missouri and Arkansas, by hushing up 
this enormous sin, and treating it as a necessary part of the 
discipline indispensable to the maintenance of slavery. Nay, 
they went further in this line of wickedness than the unre- 
generate " world " could do, going on as usual with the ad- 
ministration of " the Lord's Supper " to the murderer ! 

9. After the system of tolerance of slaveholding in the 
mission churches had brought forth this fruit, (though Mr. 
Secretary Treat says the Prudential Committee had not been 
informed of the slave-burning, and though it is quite proba- 
ble that the "excellent" Mr. Byington, to whose "fidelity " 
and " devotedness " they had given unbounded praise, had 
avoided reporting this fruit of his labors,) it was suddenly 
found, in the Annual Meeting of the Board in October, 
1859, that the Prudential Committee had discontinued the 
Choctaw Mission. They had stated to the missionaries, as 
the reason of this chano-e, " the unceasino- embarrassments 
and perplexities connected with the mission," specifying 
afterwards an expected diminution of receipts from the 
churches if the connection continued ; to the public, in the 
Annual Report then presented, they stated also, that they 
could not tell all the reasons of this change, and that " the 
whole case " was not there ; but to neither of these parties 
did they frankly say, that this trouble had come from their 
own guilty complicity with slavery ; neither has the myste- 
rious unknown reason, unfit for publication, by which they 
found themselves " greatly embarrassed," ever yet been ex- 
plained to the public. 

10. In the succeeding year, 1860, the Cherokee mission 
also was discontinued. This, the Prudential Committee said, 
was not done on account of slavery, but was done because 
the Cherokee nation was already Christianized, and thus their 
appropriate work in it was finished. 

11. The Prudential Committee, admitting that the Chero- 
kee missionaries were adverse to the discontinuance of the 
mission, nevertheless represented those missionaries to " con- 
cur in the opinion " that " the Cherokees are a Christian 



238 



THE AMERlcAXV BOARD 



people." The paragraph in which this declaration occurs 
(p. 138 of the Annual Report for 1860) shows how accus- 
tomed the Prudential Committee have become to a confidence, 
in their readers, so implicit as to take no note of the most 
glaring discrepancies and contradictions in their statements. 
Immediately after the statement above mentioned, that these 
missionaries concur in the opinion that the Cherokees should 
be acknowledged a Christian people, the testimony of the 
three missionaries themselves is given ; and not one of the 
three takes the ground ascribed to them by the Prudential 
Committee ! Not one of them " concurs " in the opinion 
that the Cherokee nation is a Christian people, any more 
than in the opinion that the Board may properly retire from 
that field of labor. 

12. The details of evidence fail to establish the ground 
assumed by the Prudential Committee as thoroughly in the 
case of the Cherokee people as in that of their missionaries ; 
for, on a careful scrutiny of the evidence, the Christianiza- 
tion of the 21,000 Cherokees is reduced to the following 
rather inadequate basis, namely; — the alleged facts, that 
136 Cherokees are members of the mission churches; that 
255 persons (church members and others, Indian, white, col- 
ored, and mixed) are attendants on the mission preaching ; 
and that an average of 80 pupils irregularly attend the 
mission schools. As to the morality of these Cherokee 
church members, they may all hold, buy, and sell slaves, if 
they will. As to their piety, it is admitted (p. 141) that 
they do not care enough for the preaching of the Gospel to 
support it at their own expense, even when able to do so. 
And the first intelligence that we have of this slaveholding 
nation, after the certificate of its Christian character pub- 
licly given by the Prudential Committee of the " American 
Board," is that, sympathizing with the manners, customs, and 
" institutions " of the Southern secessionists, they are con- 
sidering "\shether to join their movement for the extension 
and perpetuity of slavery ! 

13. The unfair and dishonest treatment which the Board 
have always practised towards the remonstrants against their 
complicity with slavery, has never been more glaring than in 
their reply to the last request of this sort, made by the 
General Association of Illinois; for the petition of this 



IN KELATION TO SLAVERY. 



239 



body " that the divorce of slaveholding from Christianity be 
completed at once, in the churches of the Cherokee nation,''^ 
was declared by the Board to be *' satisfactorily answered " 
by the dismissal of these churches from their charge, with 
the certificate, published to the world, that the continuance 
of their slaveholding was no impeachment of their Christian 
character. 

14. The fact, in the position of the " American Board," 
which now most emphatically challenges the attention of the 
civilized world, and especially of that part of it which cares 
for the propagation of a pure Christianity, is that they have 
deliberately chosen to bear a testimony practically in favor 
of slavery, and to refuse a course of action practically ad- 
verse to it, even when proposed by clergymen, their friends 
and allies ; that they have refused, now as well as hereto- 
fore, to purge the Cherokee and Choctaw churches of the 
enormous corruption which their missionaries, with their 
consent, introduced and perpetuated in them ; and that, in 
dismissing from their watch and care these corrupt churches, 
and the yet more corrupt nation to which the}^ belong, with 
the volunteered certificate that both are " Christian," they 
have insulted the common sense as well as the religion of this 
age, and have interposed the most fatal of obstructions to the 
progress of the Gospel of Christ. 

In the forty-two years of the Board's maintenance of the 
Cherokee and Choctaw missions, they have connived at 
slavery, avoiding, by various dishonorable and dishonest con- 
trivances, the hard duty of reformation. Now, they go a 
step further, spontaneously and publicly vouching for slave- 
holding churches as Christian churches, and for a nation up- 
holding the worst form of slavery as " a Christian people.''^ 
Will any Christian in the Northern churches, will any of 
those men in the free North who now see the revelations, 
more and more hideous, which slavery is constantly making 
of its own character, continue to support a Board which has 
thus deliberately taken its position on the side of slavery ? 
Will any man give another dollar for the disposal of that 
Prudential Committee, until they shall have retracted 
that shameful testimony respecting the Cherokee nation, and 
commenced a course of reparation in regard to it, doing 



240 



THE AMERICAN BOARD 



sometliing really to Christianize those whom they have 
corrupted? 

The guilt of passing a forged note is small compared with 
the sin which these men have been committing, and persisting 
in against vehement remonstrance, for forty-two years. Pre- 
tending to teach Christianity to an ignorant people, they 
have imposed upon them, under that venerable name, a 
religion which allows and favors slavery. Just as surely as 
it is the duty of a repenting forger or pickpocket to undo the 
wrong he has done, and just as surely as it is needful for 
those around him to require confession and reparation as in- 
dispensable among the evidences that his penitence is real, 
just so surely should this Prudential Committee be required 
to make both these sorts of atonement. 

They have not merely wasted the money intrusted to them 
by the churches, but they have misused it, in the worst 
possible way, sowing tares instead of wheat in the consecrated 
ground which they had undertaken to cultivate. To look at 
the matter from the pecuniary stand-point, the least important 
of all, in a matter involving spiritual interests, the union of 
the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians with the rebellious States 
of the South, in the war now commenced by them for the 
maintenance of slavery, will cost this nation fifty times the 
sum already expended upon those Indians by the Prudential 
Committee ; but their union in this movement for the de- 
fence and extension of slavery — their enlistment in this 
warfare of barbarism against civilization — is the natural 
tendency of the sort of missionary teaching which the Pru- 
dential Committee has furnished them ; whereas, a faithful 
use of their access to those tribes, and a preaching of true 
Christianity among them for forty-two years, would certainly 
have tended, and might perhaps have fully availed, to make 
them refuse such shameful companionship, and stand fast in 
the liberty with which Christ makes free. 

What wonder that their churches were always small and 
poor ! There was no purity, no conscious internal elevation, 
no spiritual nobleness within, to counterbalance what their 
parishioners " without " esteemed the advantage of open in- 
dulgence in profaneness, theft, drunkenness and fornication. 
Their church members gave up the license of some sorts of 
sin, without at all attaining " the glorious liberty of the 



IN RELATION TO SLAVERY. 241 

children of God." What wonder that only 136 out of the 
21,000 Cherokees thought it worth while to join the mission- 
churches ! What wonder that only 255 of the same nation 
thought it worth while to attend the mission-preaching ! And 
what wonder that neither church nor congregation thought 
such preaching worth paying for ! It did not come near 
enough to Christianity to he worth paying for ! 

We sometimes read of a repentant sinner who can find no 
peace until he has sought out those whom his evil teaching 
has seduced into dishonesty or intemperance, and persuaded 
them also to repent and reform. Just this reparation the 
Prudential Committee are bound to make to the Cherokees 
and Choctaws. At whatever expense of personal humilia- 
tion and self-sacrifice, they are bound to try, at least, to undo 
the mischief they have done, to retract their libellous 
representations that Christianity allows the holding, buying 
and selling of slaves, and to supply truly Christian teachers 
for the instruction of that misguided people. Not until they 
have done this, and made confession, besides, to their re- 
monstrating patrons, of the dishonest contrivances by which 
those remonstrances have been counteracted and neutralized, 
should they be held acquitted of guilt for the past, or entitled 
to a renewal of confidence in the future. 



APPENDIX 



The following letters give all the further evidence that has ap- 
peared up to this date (August, 1861) of facts and incidents rel- 
ative to the slave-burning in the Stockbridge mission station, in 
January, 1859, (erroneously stated, in the first letter, to have 
been " some time in 1860.") The suggestions of Prof Bartlett 
in regard to this evidence — in regard to its admissions, direct 
and indirect, upon some points, and its ominous silence upon 
others — are worthy of most serious attention. The first of these 
articles (with no responsible name signed to it) appeared in Jlie 
CorigregationaJisty of this city. May 3, 1861. The comments of 
Prof. Bartlett appeared May 1 7th, in the same paper. 

For the Congregationalist. 

SLAVE-BURXIXG IN THE CHOCTAW NATION. 

Some time during the past winter, there appeared in The Independent, 
and (I believe) in several of the religious papers, a letter from Prof. 
Bartlett, of Chicago, relative to the burning of a negro woman in the 
Choctaw Nation some time in ISCO. The tenor of Prof. B.'s letter seemed 
to imply that there had been a culpable silence on the part of the mission- 
aries in that Nation, upon the point, and that the mission church were 
guilty in winking at the sin of participation in the affair. Having spent 
some five years as an assistant in mission labors in the Territory, and 
knowing somewhat of the trials that gather so thickly about the weary 
way which the beloved brethren and sisters laboring in the Territory have 
trodden for the last ten years, I was grieved for their sakes, and enclosing 
a printed copy cf Prof. Eartlett's letter to one of the brethren, requested 
an explanation. The following is a copy of his reply. The original I 
still retain. If you will give it a place in your columns, I think you will 
confer a favor upon the mission. It proves what I had supposed in read- 
ing Mr. B.'s letter, viz., that the whole affair was conducted by a lawless 
mob, with whom the national authorities, even, dare not interfere. How, 
then, should our mission brethren meddle with them? While I detest 
slavery as thoroughly as Prof. Bartlett can desire any person. Christian or 
heathen, to detest it, at the same time, I do say to my Christian brethren at 
the North, Have a care, my friends, that in your zeal against slaver}-, you 
lay no stumbling-stones in the pathway of those who, amid trials and self- 
denials that home Christians know little of, have toiled on for years, to 



244 APPENDIX. 

give the Gospel to those who had it not. Should we not rather, at this 
hour, when to trials and self-denials are added dangers also, give them 
our prayers in large measure, rather than our censure ? 
Yours, respectfully, 

A Former Member of the Mission. 

P. S. — "Will you allow me, through your paper, to request The In- 
dependent to do us the favor to copy this article? 

Choctaw Nation, March, 1861. 

Miss : In regard to the inquiry respecting the burning of the 

slave woman, I have only to say, that Dr. Lowrie's letter to Rev. S. 
C. Bartlett contains the substance of the facts in the case. The 
public meeting was composed only of the relatives,* the Harkinses 
and I Pitchlyns, " Capt. Whiskey " presiding, as usual on such oc- 
casions. They constituted judge, jury, and executioners, and con- 
ducted things in precisely their own way. The only free member 
of the church, in good standing, who was present, and took any 
part in the transactions, was Mrs. Harkins, w^ife of the murdered 
man. There was one other free member of the church present, but 
he was not in good standing, and it is not known that he took any 
part, except as a spectator. 

Now, w^hat would Mr. Bartlett have us do in a case of this kind ? 
Shall w^e discipline those members who took a part in the affair ? 
That has already been done. % Mrs. Harkins voluntarily gave lierself 
up to the discipline of the church, made all the confession which 
the most fastidious could desire, was restored to fellowship, and now 
leads a consistent Christian life. What more could be done in the 
way of discipline ? 

Would Mr. B. have the church, or any member of it, institute a 
legal process against the parties ? Such a measure, in this country, 
and in case of the families in question, would be simply ridiculous. 
Some of those very persons have since been tried for the murder of 
^free white citizen of the nation, and acquitted. 

Would Mr. Bartlett luive the church, its pastor, or any of its 
members, from the pulpit or the stump, bear a public witness against 
the sin of such proceedings ? That would have been about as wise 
as to preach a sermon against the supremacy of the Pope, beneath 
the walls of the Vatican. 

This is a land of liberty ! The broad stripes and bright stars 
wave over us yet, or did then, at least, and we are still under the 

* The relatives of the murdered man, Col. Harkins. 

t It should be borne in mind, that the national authorities would not 
molest a Pitchlyn, their standing in the nation being such that to hold 
them amenable to law would require as much courage in the Territory, 
as it would now for a native of South Carolina to arrest J. Davis for 
treason. Let it be remembered, also, that while the United States exercise 
a certain supervision over the Territory, all civil and criminal affairs are 
left to the discretion of the Council and National authorities. 

X Mrs. Harkins was represented in the letter of last winter as a daughter 
of Col. Pitchlyn, which is, I suppose, correct, though 1 do not certainly 
know. 



APPENDIX. 245 

protection of that government which guarantees to us freedom of 
speech, and freedom of opinion, but actually there is no more free- 
dom of opinion here than there is in Spain. On any thing pertain- 
ing to slavery, we have to conduct ourselves just as we would under 
the most despotic government in the world. 

Would Professor Bartlett have us publish to the world the mat- 
ter ? We can see no good that Avould arise from such a course, nor 
any necessity for us to take it, while there are so many men in the 
North ready and willing to save us the trouble. 

The action of Northern men, of a certain class, in respect to the 
Choctaw Mission, often reminds me of a flock of turkey buzzards. 
You know with what indifference they flap their lazy wings over 
the most beautiful landscape. The purling stream, the waving 
trees, the blooming flowers, have no attraction for them. But show 
them a dead carcass, and they pounce upon it at once. So certain 
Northern men can see nothing^ of the good that has been eftected 
here by the Mission. They take an extra grip on their purse 
strings, and look with cool indifl'erence upon the members we have 
educated, the general good that has been effected through our 
labor. 

But show them a dead negro who has been put to death by a 
set of men who fear neither God, man, nor the devil, any further 
than suits their convenience, and they are all down upon us at 
once. 

I can only speak as an individual, but I think I hazard nothing in 
saying, the Mission would be exceedingly obliged if some one, of that 
class, Mr. Bartlett for example, would come down here, and tell us 
precisely what we ought to do, and shoiv us precisely how to do it. 
Yours, truly, . 

"While I write, a friend suggests that such a mission ought to be 
cut off. To such I can only say, what Christian man will take the 
responsibility of shutting out the Gospel from a people just strug- 
gling into the light of Christianity and civilization, amid the worst 
of surrounding influences ? If for the sin of those who rule, the 
preacher and teacher shall be removed from the people, what shall 
be done with us? When the Lord hath so dealt with us, then let 
us shut out the living preacher from our brethren who know far less 
than we. Till then, let us beware how we shut out from a still 
ignorant people, the little light that, with God's blessing upon the 
labors of toilworn men, and wearied, patient women, is begin- 
ning to gleam upon the darkness of those Indian homes and Indian 
hearts. Would that those who Avould do so, could see what I once 
saw among them — a converted Indian, whose crisp hair and black 
complexion bore testimony to the fact that African blood mingled 
largely with the Indian in his veins, standing beside the communion- 
table, and with tears rolling over his face, pleading with his people 
to listen to the teaching of these very missionaries. " While," said 
he, '* on one side one white man brings you whiskey, and on the 
other, another teaches you to gamble, and to practise every wicked- 
ness, these men, and these alone, have given us the words of life 
through Jesus. Listen to them — listen for your life, for they alone 



246 APPENDIX. 

have cared for our souls. They only teach you what will save you 
from temporal and eternal ruin." 

It is vastly easier to sit quietly at home and criticise, than to share 
the difficullies of our Indian missionaries. Were it not an act of 
common courtesy to allow one who Avill go to them, and, sharing 
their trials, their discouragements, their toils, practicalhj showinq 
them "a more excellent way," to he the one to "cast the first 
stone"? Were it not more Christ-like to thank God for what He 
has condescended to work out by them, than to hinder them in their 
work, because of what they cannot do ? Jota. 



Correspondence of the Congregationalist. 
THE SLAVE-BURNING. 

Messrs. Editors: — Your paper of the 3d instant contains a 
communication concerning the sad tragedy to which I called atten- 
tion several months since. All information concernina: it comes 
slowly and painfully. Although the subject is now eclipsed by the 
greater events of the hour, I will ask space to say, that the attempted 
explanation is very unsatisfactory — both in its mode, its tone, and 
its statements. 

A member of Mr. Byington's church Avas burned alive. Another 
member of that church, then and now in good standing, it is adiuit- 
ted, was accessory to the murder. No distinct allusion to the terri- 
ble deed was ever made by the mission or the missionaries in their 
Reports to the American Board ; and when they were transferred to 
another Board, there was nothing but a passing notice, ending with 
the deceptive statement, " It was a terrible affair, but the mission 
and the cliurch here are not responsible for it." Letters addressed 
by me to those Boards brought out only the information which they 
had; and a respectful letter of inquiry to the pastor of the mission 
church recteived no attention whatever. At length, after about 
three months waiting, a public call for information was made. 
Then only, the missionary pastor wrote, refusing to give me any 
information or explanation, but saying that he had at length (two 
years after the event) reported to the Presbyterian Board, and that 
they could explain if they chose. A respectful ap]ieal Avas i)ublicly 
made to that Board ; but no word of resi)on>ible and official infor- 
mation was given — and no authentic and detailed statement has 
been furnished to this day. After several months of waiting, how- 
ever, we get one anompaous letter, wrapped up in another anonymous 
letter, answering our respectful inquiiies in a case of admitted mur- 
der with meager statemt nts and hard names. I think the Church 
is entitled to a better account, in a more responsible shape. 

The tone of the communication is-far from satisfactory. A mur- 
dered church member is only a "dead negro"! A Christian 
brother, asking a simple explanation of the murder, is a " turkey- 
buzzard," p.ouncing on "a dead carcass"! The missionary who 
can think and write thus of the objects of his Christian labor - to 



APPENDIX. 247 

say nothing of his Northern brethren — should be blest with friends 
■wise enough to suppress his letters. 

The statements, too, are unsatisfactory, besides awakening other 
painful inquiries. "Actually there is no more freedom of opinion 
here than in Spain;" — and Mrs. Harkins belonged to one of two 
"families," against whom even a legal process "would be simply 
ridiculous." These statements are certainly distinct — whether 
intended to be frank or not — and they only intensify the demand 
on those brothers to show that they have not compromised the doc- 
trine and the discipline of Christ's Church. The facts purporting 
to be given are guarded, and apparently defective. " The only free 
member of the church, in good standing, who took any part in the 
transaction, was Mrs. Harkins." But how many members not free 
were there, and what of them ? "One other free member was 
present, not in good standing." What was his standing, and what 
of him ? The process of discipline " has already been done. Mrs. 
Harkins voluntarily gave herself up to the discipline of the church, 
made all the confession which the most fastidious could desire, was 
restored to church fellowship, and now leads a consistent Christian 
life." A score of questions rise on reading this blurred account. 
When was it — before or after the call for information 1 Was any 
notice taken of the case before the next communion? Did Mrs. H. 
then partake with the church ? Who took the initiative, the church 
or Mrs. H. ? — and how much is contained in that word ''volunta- 
rily"'? What was the discipline? Was Mrs. H. debarred from 
the communion? — and how long? Is a simple "confession" all 
that is necessary to restore to church fellowship a person tcho has 
taken part in a murder ? Is the murder of Christian slaves by 
" Christian " masters too trivial or too common an affair in the 
Choctaw nation to require even a passing allusion, in communica- 
ting information from the mission to the Board that employs 
them? 

I am sorry to say that I am not satisfied with the explanation of 
that letter. It awakens more doubts than it solves. I presume the * 
public will speedily learn the facts more fully from another source. 
Meanwhile, I gladly take my leave of a subject on which I have said 
more than I could have desired. 

Yours, truly, S. C. Baktlett. 

Chicago, May 6, 1861. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





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